If I tried to list every reason I have to be grateful, I’d run out of paper. Not because my life is perfect, but because I’ve learned that blessings are not always wrapped in pretty paper or delivered on sunny days.

Some of my reasons are obvious—family, friends, a roof over my head, food on the table. But others? They hide in the quiet corners. In moments I didn’t notice at the time. In the lessons that came wrapped in loss.

There’s a reason in the way morning light spills across the floor.

A reason in the stranger’s smile when I needed it most.

A reason in every tear that softened my heart instead of hardening it.

A reason in the prayers I thought went unanswered—only to realize later they had been answered better.

If I truly sat down and counted, I’d find that some of the deepest reasons to be thankful came from the places I didn’t want to walk through, but had to. They taught me endurance. They showed me what mattered. They made me kinder.

Maybe we don’t need to count all 10,000 reasons. Maybe we just need to start with one—and let it remind us there’s another, and another, and another waiting to be noticed.

Today, my one reason is this: I woke up with breath in my lungs, and that means I get another chance to live, to love, and to see the beauty still hidden in the ordinary.

And tomorrow? I’ll find another reason. And the day after that, another still. Until, one day, maybe I’ll get close to 10,000. And by then, I’ll realize I’ve only just begun.

Because in the end, my reasons are not just moments—they’re mercies. Each one is a reminder that God has been faithful, is faithful, and will be faithful still. And even if I can’t name them all, He’s worthy of every single one.

Until next time,