Q.

I am w-a-y too easily influenced. There are thousands of really quality blogs out there, writers with incredible talent, commenting on countless topics and seasoned with great photography. I've heard all my life Don't try to be someone else. Just be the best you that you can be. My problem is not being able to narrow that down. When I read a well-done post by a foodie, I think I want to do that. When I read something irrevent and hilarious, I think I want to do that. I want to be sassy and witty, straightforward and uncomplicated, or informed and well-read. Or all of them collectively.

I don't know if it's that I like a million different things or if I just don't know me well enough. I know that figuring out your target market is essential in book publishing, but I'm not marketing anything. I just want to write. And I want it to be good. I need to be proud of it because it's going to represent who I am and what that means.

More than halfway through my life, and I'm still asking the question of a lifetime: Who am I? I have a great starting point for the answer to that, and I wonder if there can ever be a conclusion to a quest of this scope--or if it's so simple that I'm missing it...

Did I say thanks for that?

It's day 31 of Project Gratitude, and I'm glad to say that so far I haven't missed a day. It's been a terrific exercise in examining the blessings in my life, and I find myself thinking about them way more than I ever did before. I've always appreciated the words Thank You, so to apply them more often only seems appropriate, especially given the humongous blessings that wallpaper my life.

I was coming back from feeding the horses when I realized that it was going to be a sunny day. I grabbed my camera and waited (not very patiently) in the snow to watch the sun slide up behind the mountain. My camera freaks out in bright light from a sand mishap in Corpus Christi, painting horizontal stripes across the pictures, but I manage to like this photo anyway. There are frozen weeds right in front of my eyes, but beyond them is a bigger, brighter landscape with Hope glistening like floodlights. It's a lesson in perspective for me, something I've needed for a long time.

Off to go be grateful for something now. Tootles!

New Year's Resolution

"If the only prayer you ever pray in your whole life is 'thank you,' that would suffice." ~Meister Eckhart

I am inspired by this quote and the notion of being grateful, for at least one thing, every single day. I never make New Year's resolutions, so this year is different. I'm challenging myself to nurture a grateful heart, so I'm going to post one thing for which I'm thankful for the next 366 days (it's a leap year!) in a new blog called "Every Day Grateful."

My God is generosity, kindness, love, grace, provision, and joy. I'm looking forward to naming some results of that mighty gifting, as He inspires.

Thank You, Lord, for this opportunity.