Count Your Blessings
Where do you begin to count your blessings? Most of us begin with our loved ones, our families and/or close friends. As we continue to name our blessings, we are grateful for shelter, plenty of food to eat, and we could go on and on. Unfortunately, many of us have grown accustomed to taking life’s blessings for granted. Sometimes it’s only when we have a significant positive experience that we respond to what should be a daily expression of gratitude. In Luke’s gospel, there is a story of Jesus healing lepers. (Luke 17:11-19). After they were healed, they departed, and only the Samaritan “when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God.” Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But where are the other nine? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Vs.17-18)
I confess that too often I am among the nine who received blessings and failed to offer thanks to the Divine Giver of every gift. Our human tendency sometimes is to have the attitude that we deserve our blessings because we have worked for them. In today’s seemingly materialistic society many are guided by “How much can I get out of life?” But for Christians, life centers in a relationship with the Giver that causes us to view all of life as a gift of a generous and loving God. When we view life that way, the only proper response is one of gratitude that finds expression in acts of thanks-giving. The question changes from “what can I get out of life?” to “what can I give back to life as an expression of thankful living?”
In 1897 hymn writer, Johnson Oatman penned these words that serve as a reminder of what blessed people should do every day, not just on Thanksgiving Day: Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God has done! Count your blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Celebrating Thanksgiving Day with our families this year is limited by the pandemic. In the past, our gathering included our adult children, their spouses, and our grandson. As our family gathered around a table of bounteous food, before the prayer each was asked to name one thing for which they were thankful. We will be apart this year, but this will not limit us from naming our many blessings. I invite you to share in that experience this Thanksgiving. May you acknowledge your blessings with the certainty that God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others.
Happy Thanksgiving!
* * *
Song: Come, Ye Thankful People, Come https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf7Z8ukqiok
About the Author:
The Rev. Dr. R. Franklin Gillis has been a resident of the Richmond area for 30 years. He served on the Richmond District as senior pastor of Bon Air UMC, and Richmond District Superintendent prior to his retirement. Writing a devotional, “Reflections for the Journey,” is a part of his weekly disciplines.
