I looked up the date, January 9, 2011, that was my first blog for Momma’s Silver Lining. Almost fifteen years now. It started as a one year challenge to myself. Over the past year or so I’ve been debating on what to do with this blog. And, with some recent clarity, I have decided to end it; in January; or at the very least, alter it to maybe once a week and not every day, or possibly pass the torch if someone else wants to take it.
I’ll make it a fifteen year “challenge” instead of its initial 365 days 🙂 I’ve been thru two different blog hosting sites and two different facebook pages for it. I’ve sold a journal to go along with it. I’ve heard inspiring feedback from others, which was such an added bonus. And it has been such a blessing in my life to sit down and write about something that I am thankful about every day.
And I do truly feel that it has ran its course. I have found God and my Grandma’s secret of gratitude in all areas of life. I have found the acknowledgement in every day moments of God’s unwavering love and faithfulness. And when I do have moments that I forget, I remember a lot faster.
I was not in a good place when I started this blog. The years leading up to this were filled with several large, life damaging things. I was on the other side of those things, trying to find balance in life; and feeling like a dark cloud was following me everywhere. I knew I had good things in life; but after all I had just survived, it didn’t feel that way. This blog worked. To have to sit down at the end of the day and write something I was thankful for. More than just a statement, but a more in depth writing and analyzing of the thankfulness; it changed my perspective. It changed my mood. It changed me.
I’ve had one foot on the next path in life that I’ll be taking. Time 414 is growing and I’m excited to see God’s plan for it! I think that is a plan that will continue to evolve and be seen as it grows for a long time to come. On that path, this blog has helped prepare me to be ready to handle this next step. The space that Time 414 is in, is an emotional one. The people I get to help are hurting, they are angry, they are scared, they are in need of hope. And fifteen years ago I started a practice to help me tap in to that hope. I will share with them. And I will stay grounded myself.
Tonight I am thankful for the past fifteen (almost) years of this blog. God used it in such a wonderful way. For someone who is horrible with routines, rebels against schedules internally like a teenager, and tends to forget regular random things; I’ve done pretty darn good with writing this thing every night. The misses are only a handful; and I’m not counting the ones done after midnight when I’ve been up late. This is a treasured time and tradition that I will hold dear to me always.
Momma's Silver Lining 