Count your blessings

The reason we sing hymns in church is because we need to hear the words in the lyrics over and over again. We don’t just sing this hymn in November, we sing it (or should sing it) all year long:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the lord has done.

…Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

…When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold.

Count your blessings. The economy has beat us all down, but so what? The REALLY important things can’t ever be taken from us. I look at my children and my grandchildren and I’m reminded of what my grandfather used to say when he looked at me and my sisters. He’d point to each of us and say “a million bucks, a million bucks, a million bucks. I’m a very rich man indeed.” Ditto!

Thanksgiving

“Let never day or night
unhallowed pass, but
still remember what the
Lord hath done.”
Shakespeare

Thanksgiving rolls around every year whether we like it or not. It is one of your children’s least favorite holidays…and probably yours too because we have this Norman Rockwell picture in our mind of what a real family looks like, and it’s not ours. Most of our families are less than perfect. If you are lucky enough to have the perfect family – add that to your list of things to be thankful for. If not, just remember that you are part of a much bigger family and one day you will be perfect...and, with any luck, so will they.

I sat in a Sunday school class the week before Thanksgiving and the teacher asked each of us what we were thankful for. Each person had to respond without repeating anything that had already been said. Being the list maker that I am, I wrote down everything they said and I have carried it with me in my wallet ever since. That was over twenty years ago and I still have the list. I’d like to share it with you. Feel free to make your own additions:

“What I’m Thankful for”

What's in your wallet?