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Made My List, Checked It Twice. Your Turn!

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.

  1. HVAC and a refrigerator
  2. Food to go in the fridge
  3. Wife since 1980, Karen
  4. My “coffice” (couch office)
  5. A speaking career that isn’t “work”
  6. Taco III—my current Toyota Tacoma
  7. Peggy Sue the Pug
  8. The 9 years we had Nug the Pug
  9. Sunshine
  10. Kristin, Child #1—my QBQ! teammate
  11. Tara, Child #2
  12. Michael, Child #3
  13. Molly, Child #4
  14. Charlene, Child #5
  15. Jazzy, Child #6
  16. Tasha, Child #7
  17. Carpeting
  18. Coach/author, David Levin
  19. My sister, Lucy
  20. My brother, EJ
  21. Dad, who taught me much
  22. Mom—gone 43 years ?
  23. Pillows
  24. iPhone X and 11″ MacBook Air
  25. Air
  26. Denver Rescue Mission
  27. Toast
  28. My reptile hobby
  29. My 2 friends, excluding Karen ?
  30. The lone Miller “DIL”—Casey Mae
  31. Son-in-law, Erik
  32. Son-in-law, Justin
  33. Son-in-law, Ricky
  34. Doris, my “MIL,” 91-years-young
  35. Mentor, Jim Strutton
  36. Mentor, W. Steve Brown
  37. Mentor, Bevan Clark
  38. The USA and our military men and women
  39. Joleen Munson, our travel agent for 21 years
  40. The Office of the POTUS
  41. RX bars
  42. Flat screens
  43. All fresh fruit, but mostly cherries
  44. Some God-given talent
  45. 37 pounds of lost weight
  46. QBQ!—the idea and the book
  47. Our king-size bed
  48. Water
  49. Colorado weather
  50. TV remote controls
  51. Cheap gasoline
  52. Free speech
  53. Bob Feis (CPA) and Steve Jones (investments)
  54. The American flag and our Nat’l Anthem
  55. Chicken, mostly dark meat
  56. Steak, any cut
  57. The income to buy chicken and steak
  58. Jesus
  59. 10 grandchildren ages 8 down to 6 months
  60. 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!

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John G. Miller

John G. Miller

John G. Miller is the author of QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, Flipping the Switch: Unleash the Power of Personal Accountability, Outstanding! 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Exceptional and co-author of Raising Accountable Kids. He is the founder of QBQ, Inc., an organizational development firm dedicated to “Helping Organizations Make Personal Accountability a Core Value.” A 1980 graduate of Cornell University, John has been involved in the training and speaking industry since 1986. He lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Karen. The Millers have 7 children and 14 grandkids. To reach John, email John@QBQ.com.
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9 Responses

  1. 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!

    Reply

  2. 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.

    Reply

  5. 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

    Reply

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