It’s the time of year when people focus on what they have. As we all know, some blessings are HUGE and some are … small.
When I challenged myself to consider what I’m thankful for, it occurred to me to use the number of years I’ve been on this Earth.
I am 60.
So here’s my list of 60 people and/or things I’m blessed to have in my life. And, no, they are not in order of priority.
- HVAC and a refrigerator
- Food to go in the fridge
- Wife since 1980, Karen
- My “coffice” (couch office)
- A speaking career that isn’t “work”
- Taco III—my current Toyota Tacoma
- Peggy Sue the Pug
- The 9 years we had Nug the Pug
- Sunshine
- Kristin, Child #1—my QBQ! teammate
- Tara, Child #2
- Michael, Child #3
- Molly, Child #4
- Charlene, Child #5
- Jazzy, Child #6
- Tasha, Child #7
- Carpeting
- Coach/author, David Levin
- My sister, Lucy
- My brother, EJ
- Dad, who taught me much
- Mom—gone 43 years ?
- Pillows
- iPhone X and 11″ MacBook Air
- Air
- Denver Rescue Mission
- Toast
- My reptile hobby
- My 2 friends, excluding Karen ?
- The lone Miller “DIL”—Casey Mae
- Son-in-law, Erik
- Son-in-law, Justin
- Son-in-law, Ricky
- Doris, my “MIL,” 91-years-young
- Mentor, Jim Strutton
- Mentor, W. Steve Brown
- Mentor, Bevan Clark
- The USA and our military men and women
- Joleen Munson, our travel agent for 21 years
- The Office of the POTUS
- RX bars
- Flat screens
- All fresh fruit, but mostly cherries
- Some God-given talent
- 37 pounds of lost weight
- QBQ!—the idea and the book
- Our king-size bed
- Water
- Colorado weather
- TV remote controls
- Cheap gasoline
- Free speech
- Bob Feis (CPA) and Steve Jones (investments)
- The American flag and our Nat’l Anthem
- Chicken, mostly dark meat
- Steak, any cut
- The income to buy chicken and steak
- Jesus
- 10 grandchildren ages 8 down to 6 months
- A comb-able head of hair
Because I’m in my 61st year, I’ll do one more:
61. Setbacks, because they’ve helped me grow. ??
Hmm, interesting—what began as an off-the-wall thought of using my age became a very meaningful exercise.
Your turn!
I challenge you to write/type out the number of blessings in your life that matches your age—and then share it with others. It’ll make you think about and be thankful for more than you know!
Merry Christmas to all of you from the QBQ, Inc. team: John and Karen Miller of Denver, Colorado and Kristin Lindeen of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
As always, comments are welcome!
9 Responses
Great idea! Now… I gotta work on my list… but I’ll need to come up with a few more 🙂
Oh… and gotta share this on my FB timeline!
Thanks & Blessings for Christmas!
Go for it, Franc! And thanks!
John, I remember the some of the conversations we had about life, our church, school, our kids, foster kids, sports and the QBQ. Not sure if you’ll remember, but you had asked me once, “Who’s the Oger in this place?” (referring to our ministry, but I think more specifically to our church). I remember you thinking I was a Bob Jones guy. I still laugh and tell others about those conversations. I appreciated your insight and persepctive on life and Christianity and while I was hired to do a job in a particular environment with a “oppressive” nature, driven most of the time by “performance-based” living, I had always questioning what Christendom should look like. By God’s grace, He has orchestrated my life in such a way to be able to learn from the world I was created in and the brand of Christianity I grew up in and served in and to bring me to the place where “I’m now getting it!” Pam and I would tell you we are in the 18th year of our grace journey. We are often brought to tears thinking about the beauty of the Gospel and the joy of Christ-centered, grace-driven, Gospel-focused living. While school is an institution necessitating rules, I would love to go back to the old days and re-due so much of what I did, especially when it came to how I counseled families, students and teachers. I was taught truth, and so appreciate it, but somewhere along the way, it’s wonderful application became bogged down with non-essentials. We delight in our Savior and the Gospel. We love where He has brought us from and where He is taking us. I would love the opportunity to seat down some day, over coffee, although I don’t drink the stuff, and chat. I too am 61 years old. Life is precious and short. I cherish every day. I enjoyed your list and agreed that I too have been privileged to experience the same things (although I now butcher my own chickens, take my cows and hogs to the butcher and occasionally enjoy venison, duck and rabbit.) My wife is amazing and I love my boys, their wives and our adopted grandkids but most of all, I am so thankful that I am “in Christ” and that I get it. Good to know the Millers are doing well. Love you all.
Scott! Well, I can’t say I remember asking that question, but I’ll trust ‘ya! 🙂 Thanks for sharing such a meaningful comment with all of us! Hugs to Pam!
Thanks for the idea, John!
Beautiful idea. I’ll get busy. 🙂
Thanks so much, Sheila! Do it! 🙂
1. My wife of 30 years
2. My adult son
3. My adult daughter
4. Max, the 8 year old German Shepard
5. Kyro, the Siberian Husky puppy, who has destroy many hundreds of dollars of household things
6. Mila, the cat who hates people, not just me
7. Our financial situation
8. My job, which ends June 2019 due to a Volunteer Separation Program
9. My health
10. My wife’s health
11. Road cycling, except during the winter
12. The extra car
13. My salvation in Jesus
14. My new friends at church
15. My old time friends
16. My immediate and extended family
17. My kid’s friends
18. Wisdom in life
19. My “new” tooth implant
20. Our 15 day, 7 country European summer vacation
21. Breckenridge at Christmas, or anytime
22. The mountains, the ocean
23. Airplanes, to travel quickly
24. IPA beer
25. Any kind of dessert
26. Our house
27. A good movie
28. The uniformed men and women who protect this country
29. Football, basketball
30. The Bible, God’s instruction manual for life
31. Our Life group
32. Our other Life group
33. My men’s coffee group
34. My team at work, most of them
35. The leadership are work, some of them
36. The teachers and professors who taught me my skills
37. My father in law who taught me how to fix things
38. My mother in law who can talk to anyone
39. My parents for doing their best to raise me
40. The open space 300 yards from my front door (soon to be built on)
41. Food, any food
42. My new laptop that replaced my 10 year old desktop computer
43. My certifications – CMA, Six Sigma Green Belt, FP&A, CPA (just earned it)
44. Snow
45. My snow blower and shovels
46. The sun to melt the snow
47. Salt to melt the snow on the roads
48. Snow plowers, yes, CDOT
49. My new inner ear bone prosthetic, so I can hear better
50. Oil drillers so I can have cheap gasoline
51. The President
52. Living in the freedom of the United States
53. The news channels who see two different things of the same political event
54. Politicians, since I could never be one
And #55, since my birthday was 4 days ago…. Our heater for the house & blankets to keep me warm.
Wow. This was harder than I thought but glad I did it.
Greg
Fantastic, Greg! Wowee! Thanks for sharing!