Seven

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward  you and give you peace.  Numbers 6: 24-26

Happy Birthday Joyful Words!  This week marks the 7th year of blogs.  At first I wasn’t going to mention it because seven seemed like such a random, unimportant number but then I did a little digging and suddenly seven had a whole new meaning.  Here are a few cool things I learned about this seemingly silly little number…

A ladybug commonly has seven spots.
Most mammals have seven neck bones.
There are seven basic music notes. (think Sound of Music…do-re-me…you hum the rest)
Phone numbers have seven digits.
There are seven stars in the Big Dipper.
The periodic table has seven rows.
There are seven Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.
Seven Sacraments were given to us by Jesus.
There are Seven Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins.
And, seven is the most common number rolled with two dice.

Once again, I realized that not everything is just as it seems at first glance.  Sometimes if we do just a little thinking and try to see things from a different perspective, we are probably in for a surprise.  The fact that this thing is still rollin after seven years is a giant surprise to me.  I sure didn’t expect the Holy Spirit to keep me at it for this long.  Another surprise is that I started writing to help people, but in truth, I’ve been the one who has been “schooled” along the way.

Sometimes I hit the publish button and I feel like the words that spill into cyberspace are no more relevant than the number seven seemed.  I wonder if there is meaning or substance or if it’s all just a bunch of words.  Then I remember who is in charge and I lean on him to give me the words I need or that he knows someone out there needs and I type and hold my breath hoping I don’t sound like a “wing nut”!  Over the last seven years I’ve written about things that were funny, simple and sometimes tricky.  Sometimes he’s asked me to write about things that were easy to hear and sometimes I’ve been asked to write a dose of truth that might have been hard to swallow for some.  And, of course there are the times he's asked me to write about things that are dripping with grief and sadness.  My mission is always to help us keep our eyes lifted up to him and I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes that’s just plain tough to do.

It’s been such a joy to have a little window to so many of your lives.  My heart is always so touched when you leave comments that let me know the Holy Spirit has used words on this page to reach you.  I’m humbled by this work and I’m thrilled that he’s asked me to serve him in this way as opposed to mission work in a jungle which I find the thought of absolutely terrifying!  God is good and I’m happy to write about all the ways I see that truth unfold. I thank you for reading, I thank you for the prayers and I’m so grateful for your support.  Please know of my daily prayers for all of you who stop by to give the blog a read.  May God bless us all!

A Seed To Plant:  The mission of the blog is to spread his joy so please take a minute or two today to pray for those you  know who are struggling to find and feel the joy of the Lord.​

Blessings on your day!