Relationships

You Decorated My Life

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#NothingButGratitudeNovember: 11/18/2015 Restated

Perfect Fall Flowers

Today I am grateful for the many perfect people who have shown up throughout my life at the perfect times for the perfect reasons. People who showed up, seemingly surreptitiously, as themselves, at just the right times and for just the right reasons. In love. Or as examples. With the messages I needed to hear at the time. As teachers. As lessons. As answer to prayers. In truth. With the help I needed. As true friends. As catalysts. As inspiration. With opportunities. And many times for many reasons that I was unaware of or did not understand at the time. But always as blessings. Divinely-directed blessings for me.

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It Takes a Village

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#NothingButGratitudeNovember: 11/17/2015 Restated

Fall Village

Today I am grateful for the villages that raised me.

“It takes a village to raise a child.” – African proverb

In my case, thankfully, there were a few. I was very, very, … very blessed to be raised, taught, mentored, coached, led, and loved by many wonderful people. Uncles, aunts, grandparents, a step father, cousins, neighbors, teachers, coaches, church leaders, friends, “adopted extended family,” and remarkable role models are wonderful memories of the villages of my youth. Patient, selfless, generous, wise, and kind people who cared for me in a number of different roles and across a number of different locations. And cared for me as if I were one of their own. Teaching me both by silent, tireless example and by patient, hands-on guidance.

I will forever be grateful for all of those villagers and everything that they, individually and collectively, did for me. I have so many incredible, vivid memories of those villages, villagers, and seasons. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Believe Bravely; Dare Greatly; Thank Boldly,

Jay

My Glorious Night “In” a Hallmark Channel Holiday Movie

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#NothingButGratitudeNovember

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Over the course of this month of November, I have taken some time each day to thoughtfully count my blessings and publicly share at least one thing each day that I am grateful for in my life – AKA my “#NothingButGratitudeNovember 2015 Campaign.” I have used Facebook as the primary platform for declaring my gratitude and have actually rather enjoyed sharing my thoughts and feelings of thanksgiving with my friends and family there. Surprisingly, another thing to be grateful for.

I have learned that much of what I am grateful for is also held in a space of gratitude by many others. The mutual acknowledgment of this commonly-shared gratitude, along with a number of requests and suggestions that I share – and continue to write – my posts in a more widely-accessible format, have led to my decision to include and re-share a few of my #NothingButGratitudeNovember (2015) posts here.

My thought is that sharing here what I am grateful for or restating here what I am grateful for cannot do anything but good, because expressing our gratitude is simply a good thing. My hope, however, is that as you read these posts you will be prompted to consider and quantify for your own sake that which you are thankful for and share your gratitude with others in ways that will enrich your life and theirs. One of those pay-it-forward proposals. Thank you for reading my blog and giving me one more thing to be thankful for!

Click here to read why I am grateful for my Hallmark Channel Holiday Movie moment!