109E – Recognize the Good and Write It Down

Sometimes I have to stop and ask myself, is God trying to get my attention? Because it sure seems like I keep running into this or seeing that lately. That happened this week, as a matter of fact.

When I was interviewing Stacey Donovan of Hallmark Publishing, she was talking about her main character in her new book, Sunrise Cabin, and how she starts each day saying aloud everything she is grateful for. Stacey admitted that particular trait is one of her own.

Then I was chatting with my friend Kristin and she said, wow, you've really had a lot going right in your life this month. And I stopped and thought, huh, that's right, and I haven't paused long enough to realize it, let alone be grateful for it.

That thought led me to remember that just a few days before I'd been talking to my friend Becca about gratitude and writing, but that I didn't enjoy journaling about what I was grateful for. It all sounded the same, which sounded boring to me.

Taken together, though, these three separate conversations got me thinking that God might be trying to get my attention in the area of awareness of gratitude. So I started looking for ways to capture it, to stop doing long enough to be intentionally aware of all the things that were going right or well in my life.

Have you noticed any patterns lately, things that keep coming to your attention? Maybe God and your brain are trying to get your attention. Take a minute to stop and consider what keeps popping up. Then write it down. It'll help you process it. But it's also part of who you are as a writer – you're a keep of the information, a keeper of histories. Enjoy it!