#smallblessings

In January 2017 I started what I like to call my “Spiritual Walk Journal.” I had always seen the importance of journaling and writing your thoughts down, so I had decided to do one of my own. 

Now, this wasn’t the stereotypical journal of a teenager talking about drama and boys. Mine was a recording of, as it’s named, my spiritual walk.

I started it for two reasons: 

1. To sort through my day and write my thoughts onto paper and 

2. To be able to read back through it later in my life and see how far I’ve come. There are often times when life is hard and I can look back through it and be encouraged from something I wrote months or even years ago. Now, I keep it and keep writing more not only for the two reasons listed above, but also to encourage and inspire those who will one day read it.

I actually read a few entries not that long ago and noticed some recurring themes: focusing on the small blessings.

In one in particular, I described my frustration in taking a pre-cal test. I was apparently stressing out about it, not understanding any of it, so I took a break. Going down to the kitchen to get a glass of water, I looked out the window and saw three dogs. Listen y’all, God must’ve known that I needed to see those puppies because it caused all of the frustration and stress to melt away and joy filled its place. It might seem like such a small thing, but it was just the thing I needed. I was so thankful to God for it that I even gave it a hashtag #smallblessings.

In today’s day and age, for most of us it can be hard to slow down and notice the little things in our lives. But for me, if you couldn’t tell, I’m the type of person that likes to look for the little ways in which God has blessed me. A two dollar tip to buy a pastry after work? Blessings! Order a small drink at a fast food drive thru and they give me a medium instead? Highly favored!

The point is, I like to look for the small blessings, recognize that it’s a gift from God, and give Him the thanks He so deserves.

2020 has been a crazy year, and for most of us it has been difficult. With everything getting shut down due to covid, quarantine, jobs lost, plans cancelled, wedding plans either postponed or drastically changed, seniors not getting the graduation they worked so hard for, and all of the other crazy things non-covid that’s taken place this year, it can be hard to see the ways in which we’ve been blessed.

On a normal day, in a normal year, most of us don’t see the small blessings. This year? If we allowed it, we could be blinded to all the ways in which God blesses us each day. I mean, with the things mentioned above, it could be hard to see the ways God has blessed us through it if we aren’t intentional in looking for it.

Truth is, whether we notice it or not, God is blessing us each day, EVEN in 2020. I’ve always said that if you can’t think of any other way that God has blessed you, think about how He woke you up today. That itself is a blessing. Another example I often like to use is toilet paper. Goodness, that’s one thing we take for granted, amiright? And I mean, how fitting of a year for that statement, but I think all of us have learned that one this year for sure.

Living from this place in noticing the small blessings is living from a place of gratitude. You begin to realize how blessed you are rather than looking at all the things you want, wish you had, but don’t. It shifts our focus from living in lack to living in the abundance that God has given you.

So I want to encourage you in this season. Maybe things are difficult right now. Or maybe life is actually good, in which case I’m so glad! But in either case, I encourage you to look for the small ways that God is blessing you in your life, and live from gratitude and abundance.

Catch you all on the flip side,

Caleigh

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An adventurer and coffee enthusiast at heart, Caleigh Ball has a passion for reaching out to others to inspire them to live with intention and purpose. As an ordained minister, she spends her time ministering as a youth pastor and is actively involved in Arise Ministries as the vice president and bookkeeper as well as one of the ministers. She enjoys life with her husband, Emmanuel, and their cat, Alaska, in their home state, Almost Heaven West Virginia.

Find Caleigh on Instagram at @caleigh.ball