Community Connection: Count Your Blessings

Family Time is changing! The content will remain the same, but we are shifting our name (and soon, our logo) to be as inclusive as possible. So welcome to your weekly Community Connection! This week we’d like to offer you an activity that recalls the Blessings Jar we shared way back in 2020, but with a new twist that encourages you to literally count your blessings.

To start with, you’ll need a clean, dry jar. No need to decorate it unless you really want to; in fact, if you do add things to the outside of the jar, be sure you can still see inside so you can watch it fill up. You’ll also need a bowl of small objects that you think are beautiful and enjoy looking at – think things like beads, buttons, sea glass, or small rocks.

Place the jar and the bowl in a high-traffic area of your home. Any time you’re nearby and you are reminded of one of your blessings, select one of the objects from the bowl, send up a prayer (out loud OR silently – this part of the ritual is just for you), and drop it in the jar. You might talk to God about the trees blooming outside your window, or the juicy apple you just ate, or the person who held the door for you at the coffee shop. No blessing is too small to deserve being named.

As you watch your jar fill up, we hope you’ll begin to notice more of the blessings in your life and to focus more on the presence of blessings rather than their absence. And when your jar is full, you have a few options. You might try to guess how many small objects are in it; in order to see how close you were, you will have to literally count your blessings. You might choose to impact those around you by sharing your blessings through an act of service. Then you can seal up the jar, put it on display (that’s why we encouraged you to fill it with things you like looking at!), and start all over again.

What is the first blessing you will drop in your jar? If you’d like to share it, connect with us in person or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.