Counting Blessings

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Psalm 21:6     Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

Ezekial 34:26     I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.

Luke 11:28     Even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.

“God, how much fun you must have, dreaming up blessings to rain down on your children. Your affection for me is not subject to my behavior toward you. You continue to fix your thoughts on me even when I selfishly ignore your blessings. Help me to see all that you have blessed me with today.” A prayer, from Prayers and Promises for Women, pg 13   2017, Broadstreet Publishing, Racine Wisconsin.

 

Have you ever tried to list your blessings? I have and I had many, several full pages of notebook paper, carefully scrawled in two columns, and ended up with 5 sheets. I did not list before my grandparents since I never knew them, but did clump all the ancestors into one pot. But starting with my grandparents as family members, I could list individually the blessings they are to me. I have special memories of all four of them, and because some lived much longer than others, I have an abundance of those.   And of course, parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, friends, teachers, and truly as you list, you are kind of awed, or at least I was, at the number of ways God has blessed me.

So family and relationships can be one area you feel blessed. Then there’s health, senses, and all the things you get to enjoy by exercising those senses. Then there are all the things that as long as we are healthy, are things we don’t think a lot about; blinking your eyes to keep them moist, your pumping heart—unless you are exercising or it is bothering you, you don’t dwell on it much during a day. Intake of food and its progression…. As you can see, our bodies and how they work are huge blessings.

He has blessed me repeatedly, and I know I have missed several. But it’s important to me to recount my blessings. I think we can get in a funk if we are not aware of all we have to be thankful for.

Right now, amidst all the corona fears and hype, we should be thankful. We need to be diligent about caring and protecting our bodies, and those of our family members. Being diligent does not mean being overly frightened, but we need to be aware, cautious of taking extra care, and for now being a bit less social.

Stay closer to home, enjoy a few good books, watch some inspirational films, putter in a hobby you enjoy whether it be gardening, painting, reading, writing, take an online course about something you know little and would love to learn more, do some Spring cleaning, and so many other things that may be on your list. I’ve thought of these, but make your own. You get to have a feeling of ‘hooray, job well done!’ and accomplished tasks on your list.

So this is a good time to take stock of your blessings, and then spend this time of decreased social activity to do something you don’t normally have the time for.

And let’s not fret about this virus, and some of the restrictions, and take the best care of ourselves and our blessed bodies.

Thank You, God for this time to take to be more aware of illness, and yet be grateful for all our blessings. I know You have this for me and ‘mybellaviews.’