One of the many temptations in life is to forget where our blessings come from. We explain the blessings away thinking things happened by accident or it was serendibity. Or we take the credit for ourselves. But the middle verses of the Bible emphasize the importance of counting our blessings and remembering them. And giving credit where credit is due.

O my soul, bless God. From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name!
   O my soul, bless God,
      don’t forget a single blessing!
(Psalm 103: 1-2, MSG)

When we stop believing in blessings and in God who is interested in our lives something changes in us. We become cynical. But that’s not the way we are meant to live. When we stop believing in God who is in miracle business, we lose life-giving joy and our life loses its meaning. This change is gradual and we don’t see it first. Blessings are sometimes hard to see, too. Sometimes blessings come in disguise. It also takes time for a seed of blessing to grow into a tree and bear fruit.

Max Lucado has said “I choose joy… I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical… the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.”

We can choose to keep our spiritual eyes closed. Or we can train them to see blessings in everyday life. The more we practice seeing grace happening around us, the more we see grace in action. The more we count our blessings, the more we see them happening. Blessings happen by grace, not by accident.

 

Gracious God,
We bless your holy name!
Thank you for all the blessings!
Keep our eyes open to see all your blessings.
We want to choose to see you in everything.
Thank you for your graceful presence in our lives.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Have you seen things happening by grace in your life?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you train your soul to see all the blessings around you! Stick to grace! Stick to joy! God is good – all the time!

Photo courtesy of Michael Hickman