The Blessing Counter (New Era)

By Devin Durrant

Devin Durrant, “The Blessing Counter,” New Era, Nov. 1981, 42


The letter said, “Devin, you ought to start a journal. The prophet has counseled us to do it. I have been writing regularly in one and it has helped me a great deal. My journal is something that I will treasure forever.”
That was the essence of the only part I remember from a letter that my older brother Matt wrote to me in October of 1976. At that time he was serving a mission in Tokyo, Japan. I loved my brother. He was everything that I wanted to be. I thought, if he writes in a journal and thinks it’s a good thing, then I’m going to do the same.
I turned 16 years old shortly after I received his letter advising me to record the events of my life. For my birthday that year my parents gave me a $50.00 gift certificate. The following day I went to the store and spent five dollars of that gift certificate to buy my first journal.
On November 1, 1976, I made my first entry, and since then every day of my life has been recorded.
One purpose of my journal is that it serves as a blessing counter. As I write down my experiences, happy and sad, and my feelings about them, I am able to see better the blessings that each day brings.
Journal writing is also a valuable teacher for me. It provides a few minutes a night to look on the day and learn from each experience.
We all need to write in a journal, not only to help ourselves learn and grow and to count our blessings, but to share our experiences with those who follow us in this life.
I surely would like to be able to read about my great-grandfather’s first date or his feelings when he was ordained to be an elder. His journal would be a priceless treasure to me.
I believe my descendants will enjoy reading about my successes and failures and other experiences and feelings that I have had, such as the embarrassment that I felt when the back of my pants ripped out on one of my first dates or the nervousness that ran through my body as I opened the envelope that carried my mission call.
My journal is a priceless treasure to me. Writing in it has blessed my life. I hope the lives of my descendants will be enriched as they read about my experiences and that they will be inspired to start on their own “priceless treasure”—a journal.