Count your blessings

Today it's another beautiful sunny day, even though it's cold I'm reminded that we have so much to be thankful for. The message that I will share at church this morning is all about our blessings.

BLESSINGS

Readings: Proverbs 16: 1-6 and Matthew 5: 1-12

A familiar and favourite song opens with the words Count your blessings, name them one by one. It has a way of reminding us of the fact that, no matter what life deals out to us, we always have much to be grateful for. That in itself is usually a blessing, for it often prompts the recalling of a particular moment which is remembered with joy.

Yet by and large, it often seems that many people prefer to count up the things that either they don't have, or that have not gone as smoothly as they wished, rather than thinking about the joy and happiness that is to be found in living. And there is always a measure of joy to be thankful for if you stop and think about it for a while. How easy it is for people to be misled into placing too great a value on possessions, misunderstanding the true values of life by elevating them to primary place. Jesus said, Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions (Luke 12:15). Homes that are filled with love and yet lack plenty are remembered for the love that existed not for the possessions that didn't. Scripture emphasises this with the words, Better a dish of vegetables where love is, than a fattened ox and hatred with it (Proverbs 15:27).

Speaking of the worthy wife Proverbs records, Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her, ... (31:28).

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There are so many nice things in the world that we neither have, nor are likely to get, that we could waste our lives thinking about them with bitter and envious longing, thinking that we have somehow been short-changed. People buy Lottery tickets week by week in the hope of getting rich quick, yet the truth is that for the vast majority of those people they would have more money at the end of the year if they simply put by what they spend on the tickets. If we choose to live in a fool’s paradise, we’ll soon find that we have no time to be thankful for anything, failing to see anything in our lives to consider a blessing, when in reality it should be quite the opposite. If you started a Blessings list then you'd soon find that life started to fall into perspective as the list grew longer and longer. Are you a No person or a Yes person? No people are fairly negative about almost everything, but the good news is that they can change! Once you start your Blessings list then you start to become more and more positive as you see all that God has blessed you with. Start to say thank you, firstly for the life that He has blessed you with, then move on to the family, the home, the job or situation, and so on. The more conscious you become about your blessings then the more of a Yes person you'll become. If you suffer from the stresses of modern life then these will gradually disappear because you'll find that you don't have time for them, any more. Henry Ford once commented that he used to worry a lot but then found that he became too busy to worry. His method of beating stress and worry was something like this:

• .Believe in the best


• Think your best


• Study your best


• Have a goal for your best


• Don't accept any less than your best


• Try your best, and in the long run, things turn out for the best.

God has given everyone a good measure, together with the ability to acknowledge and be thankful for it. Sometimes people let other things stand in the way blotting out the view, and that's when life may seem a little sour. In Africa, where I lived for many years, I had a special way of dealing with problems. Almost every night the tapestry of the cloudless night sky unfolded before me. I would gaze up at a star and imagine that I was on that star looking down to earth. No matter how hard I tried I could never manage to pick anything out from up there, because it was all too far away. I couldn't even pick out my house, let alone me; and so if I was too small to be seen and my problems were only part of me, it put them into perspective. They didn't deserve to have a big chunk of my life. God had blessed me with far too much to turn my back on all of the good things and concentrate on just one or two things, blowing them up out of proportion!

Once we become aware of our blessings, counting them joyfully, then we also become aware of an improving relationship with God as we thank Him for them; and as we do so that increases the relationship even further. The more you become aware of the blessings that God has granted you in this life and prepared for you in the life to come, then the more you will want to draw close to Him. When the home is home not only to the family but also to the heavenly Father then there is always a sense of love and fulfilment to be found there. One writer summed it up long ago with these words:

Happy the home when God is there,
and love fills every breast;
When one their wish, and one their prayer,
and one their heavenly rest.

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Happy the home where Jesus' name
is sweet to every ear;
Where children early lisp His fame,
and parents hold Him dear.

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Happy the home where prayer is heard,
and praise is wont to rise;
Where parents love the sacred word,
and live but for the skies.

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Lord, let us in our homes agree,
this blessed home to gain;
Unite our hearts in love to Thee,
and love to all will reign.
(Author unknown).