‘Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.’
These words will be very familiar to some of you, they are taken from an old hymn written by Johnson Oatman Jr.
From my office window in my new little cottage, I can see not only a perfect view of our Church, but also signs of Spring in my garden. I can see daffodils, hyacinths and grape hyacinths, bright green grass and trees and shrubs in many shades of green. Everything looks bright and fresh, and it reminds me to appreciate all these things.
Life is not always easy, we all have difficulties, worries and uncertainties all the time and it would be easy to dwell on these and to become very negative. So it is important for us to count our blessings for we will find there are more than we may think.
As age or health issues, or a change in circumstances take things away from us, or force us to give some things up, or do things differently, it would be easy to dwell on the things we can’t do – but what if we focused our thoughts on finding something to replace these things and acknowledged the blessings we have? Surely this would help us to feel less frustrated and more positive.
There are many positive ways of looking at things…
‘You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.’ ‘Nothing is Impossible, the word itself says I’m possible’! ‘It will be okay, maybe not today, but it will.’
We can recognise that we are finding it hard to cope and acknowledge our feelings by reminding ourselves that:
‘It’s okay to not be okay.’
Or we can try and make things better for someone else and…
‘Be the rainbow in someone else’s cloud.’
It is not always easy, but adopting a positive mental attitude is so much better for us and for those around us.
‘Not every day is good but there is good in every day.’
When I worked in a school, I worked with a child once whose Mum was very ill and he said to me that at the end of every day, they told each other one good thing that had happened that day. That’s something we could all do, couldn’t we? What better way to end the day than by thinking of something good … and by counting our blessings.
God is at work in our lives all the time. He doesn’t always answer our prayers when we want him to or how we want him to, but He does answer them – and He knows best. It’s up to us to see His hand even in the little things, and to thank Him.
Let’s try ending each day with a positive thought and by counting our many blessings, and we will be constantly surprised and amazed by what the Lord has done for us.
With every blessing,
Jenny