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Tag Archives: Blessings

A More Expansive Sense of Gratitude . .

02 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Blessings, Celebration, Choices, Contentment, Faith, God, Gratitude, Hope, Positivity

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Blessings, Contentment, Gratitude

Each day, I try to think of ways and things in which I am so grateful, blessings I acknowledge usually at the start or end of my day. But the other day, I was so overwhelmed within with the sensation of how rich my life has been overall! It was a definitive sense unlike any I  remember having had before! It seemed as though the Spirit within me was lifting me to a place of gratitude the likes of which I hadn’t known prior! It was a flood of sensation, with a highlight reel of my life passing through my mind simultaneously with the reflections I was having. In my heart and mind, I could take and comprise all that I had once enumerated singularly into something greater, bigger and more expansive. I could take my gratitude and place it upon my life in its entirety. I believe God was reminding me through the Spirit’s leading to stand strong in hope, faith and to remain contented, as He had provided so much for me throughout my life. My life in total reflects more than I often even remembered and my life’s value is more esteemable than those daily lists might reflect! Instead of having my daily list of things in which to be grateful to use as a means of silencing the fears, doubts, worries and consuming, disturbing emotions which stir within me during these unsettling days here on planet Earth, God was giving me (through the Spirit within me) a fuller, bigger and more expansive sense of gratitude to stand firm and strong anew each day! b2a67dd8106445a84c8262b5fa886f6d

 

I’ve always been loved, cared for, fed, clothed, housed, educated, and have had many opportunities to travel, explore and adventure in this life. I was born in the USA, which in itself, is a blessing for our commitment to human rights and freedom, as well as the richness of our nation. I’ve had so much joy and overcome so many things which surely could have been much worse, but for the grace of God. I have great parents (one surviving), siblings and grandparents (though all have passed). My family was always nurturing and full of love. I have lifelong friends who are like family. I have eyes, ears and a heart which sees the beauty of life around me each new day. I was given the gift of not shying from hard, physical work, which had taught me a lot about myself and my own abilities. And I have a desire to learn in spite of any fears, doubts, and worries which might stop me from trying. I persevere. And none of this is my doing! It has all been because of God’s grace, mercy and for His purposes. My role as a created being is to live according to His plans and purposes, a role I have learned to accept and in which I am content.  26e6c08e7627e39158a554ffd02bfa87

 

If you ask God to reveal His wonder in you, in others, in the world, He will! If you wonder about your own life, pray for Him to fill you with all the reminders and recollections of how He has cared for you and loved you through others and throughout your life! I’m so grateful for the richness of my life and all my blessings through His grace! Have I had it all? No. Do I have everything I would have wanted? No. But I have so much, have had so much, and am so full of gratitude, I don’t have a need to count or enumerate those things I might be missing! Let me always remain in this state, through the grace of the Lord, by the Spirit within me.  Signature02

Motherhood . .

08 Sunday May 2016

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Blessings, Celebration, Family, Maturity

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Blessings, Love, Mother's Day

A mother’s love, guidance, compassion and caring heart are truly treasures to those who depend on them for life, safety, instruction, modeling and survival. Her role is to bring life to the world, to carry within her the next generation, and to nurture that life in body and soul for as long as she is able. Those who commit to such a role with a fullness of heart are truly not only life-givers but life-sustainers as well! 2c104891ddeb2d0f8011888887d0c190

 

 

purposefully and with awareness. It might be taken on by others by choice or out of necessity, but life itself cannot be sustained without women who participate in the reproductive plans God made of first enlisting the female body, heart, and soul. A mother’s role is to be held in high regard and esteemed, for her place in God’s majestic plan requires unselfishness and sacrifice on her part and willful participation in something much greater than herself. Her impact in the world is enduring and necessary for generations to thrive and prosper. Without the participation of women, life ceases! And the Bible is full of Scripture which serves to remind us of how invaluable women are to creation itself!

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God bless mothers today and everyday for they bring each generation to life! God bless our dear moms today, for doing what they must when they must and for the love they’ve shared along the way! God bless my mom for doing her best and for loving each of us unconditionally, taking on the role of a mother as God surely designed it for His purposes and plans, with sacrifice and commitment instilled within her heart! A mother’s love echoes for generations in the living, breathing, and loving souls who walk this earth!

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Revised Expectations . .

27 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Blessings, Choices, Contentment, Positivity

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Attitude, Blessings, Contentment

Often when we’re expecting something to be one way, we’re surprised to discover it come to pass in another way! Last Thursday, we went out on a whale-watching boat from Oxnard in hopes of spotting whales with their calves in their migratory progression to the cooler waters to the North. We were out on seas made choppier by winds which were increasing in intensity for about two or so hours, leaving unsuccessfully without seeing a thing! The captain determined that it would not be wise to venture closer to the Channel Islands, as the waves out in deeper water were even worse! We didn’t even see a dolphin and just a day before they had estimated thousands of them were seen in the area. The abbreviated trip was a bit disappointing to us all, but the ship’s captain gave each of us a full-fare voucher for another boat ride, to use whenever we are able.  DSC01536

One hour later, as we sat beach-side at our table in Malibu, we spotted whales within just feet of us, traveling with their calves where the waves broke on the beach. From the distance of our table, we could see about ten passing in procession, spouting, and breaching as they traveled. Everyone in the restaurant left their tables to watch the procession with great interest through the large windows. Now we surely felt rewarded for the day’s efforts to find such majestic creatures as the Humpback whales casually passing by while we were eating our delicious lunch with such breathtaking views!   gratitude-quotes-1024x819 

So in spite of the less than desirable results of our adventures out to sea, we rolled with the results and were rewarded in spades for it! Even when we were out there not spotting whales or dolphins, while several of our fellow passengers got seasick in the choppy seas, we maintained our contentment just for having had such a great experience. Things don’t always go as we plan in life, but if we keep our attitude of gratitude through our revised expectations, we surely can count our blessings more easily than when we don’t!

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A Spectrum of Blessings . .

23 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Blessings, Choices, Gratitude, Life, Wisdom

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Blessings, Gratitude, Love, Respect

I’ve read online the stories of at least four Americans missing in yesterday’s horrific terrorist bombing in Brussels. Two are an American married couple living in Brussels, who had taken her mother to the airport after a visit for her return flight to the USA and the other two a brother and sister who were returning to the United States from a trip abroad. No one in their families has heard from any of them since the bombing at the airport. I pray that by now they’ve been located and that their families know they are safe. It must be hell to all those involved to wait upon identification processes and release of information, especially for those whose relatives were visiting Belgium. And it must be utter chaos there, for the responders and those who witnessed the mayhem. I pray that all those who were lost have been located and/or identified. I pray for the families and friends of all those who perished, and all those who were injured to be surrounded by God’s healing grace, mercy and love. Just a trip to the airport (or subway) proved to be devastatingly life-altering for so many people.   8166bd303f49b37059e810ff885e33cc

We have to start viewing our lives through a spectrum of blessings, and not just because of horrible acts like this but every single day! To be alive and to have life, to be surrounded by comfort, to be rich with the love of the dear souls who fill our hearts, to have our health and well-being . . these are all true blessings for which we should be grateful anew each and every single day! All it takes is just one reminder to see how quickly life can instantaneously change . . a tremendous loss, an unexpected tragedy or a simple fateful choice can alter everything. Being consciously aware and grateful for our lives as they currently are is truly a way to give not only our own lives more value but also to give the lives of others that same worth.  appreciation-quotes-sayings-love-life-jack-kerouac1

None of us will manage to get out of this life unscathed! It’s a fact that we will suffer, be damaged and feel pain, whether physical, emotional or both! But in our living this life, we can choose to control our reactions and responses! We can look at things as blessings, feel gratitude and be thankful for everything which fills our lives and our hearts. We can choose to not let life pass us by filled with remorse, negativity or with any other emotion our reactions to things evoke! Life is precious, we know this within us. It is merely a matter to choose to be cognizant of that fact each moment of every day so that we don’t grow complacent, feel regret or miss opportunities to appreciate what or who is already around us or near us. Complacency is forgetting some thing’s or someone’s importance! Regrets are the nagging reminders of our complacency. And opportunities are often much more valuable and rare than they may seem. Life is precious. Live your life knowing, understanding and believing that with all your heart! Love your life and love the lives of others too.   Signature02

Putting on the Lenses of Gratitude . .

27 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Choices, Faithfulness, God, Gratitude, Positivity

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Blessings, God, Positivity

Yesterday a few friends and I were sharing our personal stories of extreme weather events, of enduring and surviving. It became so obvious from the first moments, that each of us was grateful for having been through what we had been unscathed. But it also became so crystal clear to us that our thankfulness went far beyond that! We were thankful, upon recollecting, for not having had to endure far worse! Each day, in every moment, lies infinite potential for better and worse. The very thing which makes it evident to us is our awareness in those moments of how grateful we are for what we have, for what we evaded and for how we are blessed!

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Good could be better. And perhaps we’re angry or upset that it was not. But in that state, did we take note of how it was still good and not bad or even worse?? Were we present in our blissful awareness to also be thankful that it wasn’t negative, or just worse?! We’re fabulous at pointing out how bad things are, or how we survived or lived through; probably because our pain, struggles or our hardships seem to garner us more attention by way of compassion, sympathy and empathy. But if we truly were present in each moment, we would soon see how very blessed we are and always have been! Good might surely have been better, but for everything, time or person who represented good to us in our lives, we were spared the worse things, times and people. And even if we encounter those things, times and people which are worse, it could have always been worse even yet!

 

549516_469832986380781_1137289488_nThankfulness reminds us of the breadth and scope of our life’s events as it focuses our limited attention to a wider range of possibility in assessment. Gratitude is a practice which only leads to more reasons to be grateful! Looking back at your life, I’m sure now you can see more reasons for which your life is meaningful, rewarding and valuable than ever before if you but put on the lenses of gratitude!

 

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Cheryl Ries-Author & Model

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