From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. --John 1:16
I am too often guilty of taking my blessed life for granted. Complaints and wants tend to find their way to my lips more frequently than praise. I see the good in life in fleeting moments that pass between the times when I am busy focusing on the bad. But no matter how far my life falls short of my idea of perfection, the truth is that I am blessed with one blessing after another, the biggest of which being a Savior who speaks on my behalf. I often remember that blessing, but I would probably be a lot happier if I counted my little blessings more, too.
I am blessed to have a job that I can do and that pays enough for me to live on even if I can't afford the big house of my dreams. I am blessed to have enough of my health that I can enjoy most activities without a second thought. I am blessed to play on a terrible softball team that loses most games but usually has more fun than the winners. I am blessed to live in an area where seasons change and I can see God's beauty reflected differently all year. I am blessed to be able to drive with the top of my car down and the wind whipping through my hair while I blast Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith CDs. I am blessed to have people who love me enough to accept me where I am but also to help me keep striving to be better.
And this list is just the beginning. God has blessed me in innumerable ways--both material and nonmaterial, both of which I need to remember and thank Him for, particularly when I get run down with a case of "have not". I'm in good company among the blessed. God has blessed all of us in unique and innumerable ways. In Psalms, David often recounts how God has blessed him. These lists of praise give him strength to get through the dry times when he may feel less than blessed. Even further than building spiritual endurance, these lists of praise form sharp daggers that we can sling at the enemy when he tries his hardest to make us feel needy. If most of us stopped and took an honest inventory, we would see that we have more than enough. God pours the blessings until our cups overflow. But Satan doesn't want us to see this because when we notice our blessings, his hold on our lives is weakened. We know we have all we need in God, so we realize we don't need the emptiness Satan offers us. Satan knows that if we see our blessings, we would never cease to rejoice at God's goodness to us. If we notice how much our cups have overflowed, we will stop looking for new ways to fill them. If we knew how much we had in Christ, we would start living like the blessed people who we already are.
Posted by Kim at April 24, 2006 09:30 PM