Count Your Blessings

Try spending a few moments at the beginning or end of each day thinking of things for which you are grateful. You can even write down a list of things and refer back to it throughout the day. Or, try to notice things throughout your day for which you can be grateful. If you tend to have a negative view of things and only remember the bad things, make a note each time something goes right.

Too often we are so focused on what we don’t have or what we wish we had that we forget how many blessings we do have!! Are you healthy? Do you have someone who loves you? Can you see the beauty in nature all around us? When you turn your faucet on, does water come out? Do you have a choice of hot or cold water? When you flick a switch, does light come on?

There are so many things to be grateful for – these are just the basics. And if you want to scoff at indoor plumbing and electrical power as blessings, try living without them for a while. And remember, a hundred and fifty years ago people did live without them. Even today, many people throughout the world live without them.

Yes, things still go wrong, and maybe you have serious problems in your life. Many people do. But, you can still find something to be thankful for even if it’s only the warmth of the sun on your face. I think of Corrie Ten Boom (author of The Hiding Place) who, along with her sister, was put in Nazi Germany’s infamous Ravensbruck concentration camp for hiding Jews in their house. Even in the face of cruelty, death and hardship she and her sister found things to be grateful for – they were grateful to be together, even though the conditions were horrible. They were even grateful for the fleas and lice, because that kept the Nazi guards out of their bunkhouse. In the midst of horror, they could still find a bright spot!