counting blessings

this morning i tried to count my blessings, but only made it up to number five.

i woke up in weakness, and asked God for strength. i have a Name to call on. that's a definite number one.

i went out to the nearby store and looked down beyond my skirt's hemline. i have legs to walk me there. that was number two.

on my way back, i remembered a six-petaled santan blossom i had spotted yesterday in a neighbor's patch. number three was that it was still there. (it's not now, because i picked it and covered it with silica gels in a glass jar.)

i looked across the street, saw a running toddler, and several feet behind him, a smile creeping on his uncle's usually stern face. that's blessing number four.

i turn my face back onto the street and saw that it led straight to a sun still rising, coloring up the clouds, and gently warming the earth with soft yellow light. number five.

this morning i tried to count my blessings, but only made it up to number five... because number five was the sun rising, pushing away the darkness, and showing me that i had more blessings than i can count.