Blessings

   There is a spiritual exercise I do with some regularity.  It helps me refocus on the important things in life.  It is particularly helpful when I’m feeling discouraged or disappointed about things as they are in my life.  Especially when I feel that I’m not as close to God as I want to be it strengthens me and helps me renew our relationship.

   I call it my “blessing review”.  I try to find a quiet spot where I can shut out as much outside noise and interference as possible.  I begin with a prayer thanking God for all He’s done in my life.  Then I begin with my earliest memories and look for the times when God has blessed me.  It’s remarkable how many I see in looking back this way.  Sometimes I will remember one that I’d not thought of before.  It makes me realize how subtle God can be in His love and blessings.

   I start with the blessing of my life itself.  When I was born the doctors told my parents that I wouldn’t live for more than a month or so.  I was born with an enlarged heart and it wasn’t pumping efficiently.  Because of this my body was not receiving the oxygen it needed.  Since this was 1950 there was nothing the doctors could do.  Yet, this September I will turn sixty-eight years old with a healthy, well-functioning heart.  Call it what you will; I call it a blessing from God.

   I recall the time I nearly fell through a glass skylight to a concrete floor about sixty feet below.  I’m not certain to this day why I didn’t go all the way through the glass and die on the concrete below.  I damaged my leg to the point that there was serious question as to whether it could be saved.  I was saved, my leg was saved and I’ve never been hampered with any long-term effects.  Again I chalk this up to a big blessing from God.

   I remember the night I told my soon to be wife that I planned to marry her.  She says I never asked, I just told her we were getting married.  Regardless of the proposal she waited over 15 months for me to return from an overseas assignment with the Navy.  We will celebrate 48 wonderful years of marriage this September.  God has greatly blessed us.

   These are just three of the biggest blessings I include in my review.  There are numerous others.  Some not so wondrous as these but blessings never-the-less.  In fact the small daily blessings are some of the most cherished.  We tend to overlook the little things God does for us each day.

   Taken as a whole they add up to a life that has been greatly blessed by God.  I see this as proof that He has a plan for me and I try to understand what it is and how I can best put it into practice.

   If you take the time to review the blessings in your life I’m sure you will quickly find that you too have been blessed throughout your life.  You will most likely think of many that have never occurred to you.  God blesses us in so many ways; recalling them and thanking Him is a worthy exercise and is a blessing in itself.