Grateful Heart Monday

Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude is always the focus of my writing, which for today is for another big milestone I just passed with this blog, TheTwelfthStep.

When I first began this blog, I had only one goal in mind and that was to share an entry every single day within it, as it was initially intended to be an online diary of sorts about my spiritual journey in life. The fact that I started this blog well over 8 years ago now and have continued to keep it going ever since is a feat in itself. But maintaining it with an entry per day has been a significant challenge over the years, especially during the many dark periods I’ve had to face and went through quite painfully. The number of days where the pain was so great, where I just wanted to give up on this blog, or at the very minimum, take a long break from it, have been countless. Yet, God has helped me somehow to keep going with it, one entry at a time. Sometimes, I don’t even know where that energy comes from to keep this going for as long as I have, but wherever it’s come from has helped me to finally achieve consecutive 3000 entries and counting!

3000 consecutive days of logging into this blog and sharing something with the world from my life is absolutely something to be grateful for. Honestly, it’s hard to fathom how I’ve remained dedicated to a task that often isn’t very rewarding, especially when readers at times have criticized what I’ve shared, as each of my shares come from my heart. But I thank God for the readers who have connected to my words and have shared how blessed they were by them, who have continued to follow my daily musings day after day. Because it’s each of you that has helped me to achieve reaching this milestone of 3000 consecutive postings. What’s ironic is that initially I was meant to do this in a “Dear Diary” type of way at home via a journal, as my spiritual teacher once suggested that. Yet, I know I wouldn’t have lasted this long doing this in such a fashion.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of things I’ve tried to keep doing in life but gave up on them not long after I started them. Vows I made to myself, promises I swore I’d keep, and tasks that I really wanted to ensure I’d never give up on, each always thrown to the wayside after varying lengths of time, none even close to this recent milestone. That’s why surpassing 3000+ consecutive entries in this blog is such an incredible feat for myself and most assuredly something to be grateful for.

The fact is, it’s reaching this feat that shows I have an inner strength, a strong fortitude, and a fierce determination of sorts, one that has kept TheTwelfthStep going, one entry at a time, one day at a time. Sharing about my life day after day after day has rarely been easy, but thanks be to God I continue to do it, 3000 consecutive entries and growing, one word at a time, I truly am filled with immense gratitude and dedicate today’s Grateful Heart Monday to a feat I never thought I’d achieve.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson