Counting My Blessings by Loretta Bouillon

Here I sit, in a Starbucks in Vancouver, listening to jazzy Christmas songs. I am fortunate to have a friend in the city that welcomes me any time I need a place to escape the north, collect my thoughts and write. Starbucks is packed with Christmas shoppers that need to take a break and refuel. As I happily tap on my laptop, the barista in front of me is dressed in a red festive Starbucks t-shirt with a saying on her back: “Let There Be Bright”. I don’t really know what it means, however I take it as a positive Christmassy message.

  

I love Christmas. This year, I have been reflecting on exactly why I love it so much. Of course, the obvious and most important—Jesus was born and because of Him and His life, we have hope and salvation for eternal life.

There are other reasons attached to the season that hold significance for me. Gary Chapman wrote a book called The Five Love Languages. He talks about how we all have one primary and one secondary love language. In his book he outlines five ways to express love: gifts, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service and physical touch. These “love languages” translate into “I love you”. I have to admit, my “love language” is gift giving. It is also “quality time”.

Christmas means family time to me. Our traditions are not elaborate but they are ours and I cherish them. It is a time where my oldest son comes home from university and is reunited with his brother and sister. It is a time where our family shuts down for a few days and just enjoys being together.  On Christmas Eve we dress up in our best clothes and make fondue, play some board games and eat boxes of chocolate. We sleep in on Christmas day. Attempting to buy perfect gifts for my family, I usually end up buying too many of them. We savour our gift opening and spread it out through the day. We stay in our pj’s, go for walks (in our pj’s) and work on puzzles. We eat boxed appetizers, brie cheese and jumbo shrimp rings for dinner so no one has to cook. It is low stress and it is lovely.

During the week we have more family time. There is no agenda except being together. We save our turkey dinner until New Year’s Eve, invite friends to join us, and have the kids invite their friends as well. We have a house full of all ages and enjoy food and games. The kids often play a “mission impossible or a “hide and seek survive” game outside. They usually have all-night board games or movies and I am happy they still want to be at home with us New Year’s Eve.

My love languages are fed….lots of gift giving and quality time!

But as I walk the streets of Vancouver, I see people that will have no gifts at Christmas. Most likely they will not be with family. Some of them will not even have shelter or enough food. As well, I have a few friends in the city that are single, Christmas is a difficult time for them and they can’t wait for the season to be over. I think of the Syrian refugees, the families of the Paris attacks' victims and so many other people in the world that will not have their love languages met this Christmas.

I will still treasure my time with my family but this year I will make more of a conscious effort to pray for those people that will struggle through the season. And I will count my blessings.

Love, Trust, Count - by Susan Barclay

As I was thinking this month about leaving a legacy, I thought about my writing, and  about the epitaph I would most want inscribed on my gravestone. Then I re-read the writing prompt and saw that we were to “write a memorial-building account of something [we] want to pass on to [others]…about God’s goodness in [our lives].” That made me think again with new direction.

In January I wrote on my personal blog about having chosen a word for the year. Initially, I identified the word as ‘habits’; later, I defined it more specifically as ‘trust’. As it turned out, there was a lot I was going to have to trust God for this year. And, praise God, He is faithful. He has shown His goodness time and time again. 

Looking back on my life, I see many stories I can share with family and friends to testify of God’s provision. Some examples:

·         He allowed me to be born into a Christian family, to attend church and participate actively in a community of faith;

·         When I was seven, He (literally) saved my life by stopping me from running into a bog;

·         Even though I did some dumb things when I was a pre-teen and a teenager, He spared me from harm;

·         He didn’t always answer my prayers the way I wanted Him to, and in retrospect, I see how He was guiding my path and keeping me from heartache;

·         Just at the right time, He blessed me with a god-fearing husband. We have been together now for more than twenty years and are raising two beautiful children;

·         He gave me a talent and a dream and opportunity to pursue both;

·         Through different events, He’s taught me that my heart and home are large enough to embrace people in need, and He’s more than big enough to take care of us all. 

I could go on but you get the idea. As the song says, “our God is able to do exceeding abundantly, exceeding abundantly above/all our hopes, all our dreams, all we ever hope to be/our God is able to do.” 

If I could model the legacy I want to leave, I would demonstrate the following: love God, love people; trust God, count your blessings. I leave you with this hymn as a reminder to do just that.

Count Your Blessings

______________

 For more of my writing, please visit www.susan-barclay.ca 

Flipping the Perspective Coin - M. Laycock

This is the season of golden light in Alberta. This fall has been glorious with temperatures remaining in the mid twenties, Celsius, for some time. It's the kind of weather that makes me want to go horseback riding, a hobby I have loved since a young child. Unfortunately my riding days are over due to a leg injury that happened when I fell while rock climbing on the cliffs of Lake Superior's north shore. The injury has finally caught up with me and keeps me from doing some things I have enjoyed in the past. It's a loss I feel deeply at times, but then, the doctors once warned me I might be in a wheelchair by now, so I'm counting my blessings.

It seems there are always two sides to the perspective coin. You can either look at all the frustrations and barriers that will continue to arise in your life and in your career, or you can focus on the obstacles that have already been surmounted and the answers to prayer that helped you leap over them.

There are times when I get frustrated with the barriers in my life and writing career, but then I remember …

My second novel, A Tumbled Stone, was published because of the generosity of a friend and the answer to the prayers of many more.

I’d prayed about the money needed to submit to A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider and three speaking engagements popped up, giving me enough to submit and purchase a few copies. God supplied what I needed just in time.

A spontaneous decision to submit a YA manuscript to Steve Laube at Write Canada led me to ask for prayer and that led to an encouraging interview and his request for the full manuscript. Once again, prayer opened doors.

Recently I prayed that God would begin to open up speaking engagements for me. After being out of the loop for over a year due to a battle with cancer, I was a bit worried that it would take a while to build up that part of my ministry again. Then I was asked to speak at a Spring Tea; another woman called to ask if I would speak at a few Christian Women's clubs in Central Alberta and another invited me to speak at a retreat in Saskatchewan. I'm now in the place of having to pick and choose which engagements to accept. God answers. God provides.

Sometimes the perspective coin lands on the wrong side and when it does I am blocked by the burdens of frustration and disappointment. It's at those times that I have to make the choice to flip the coin over. Counting the blessings releases the joy of contentment and renewed enthusiasm.

So go ahead, flip that coin.

****

Marcia's devotional ebook for writers of faith, Abundant Rain, is now available on Amazon. Visit her website for more information on her speaking and writing ministries