When my children were young I got in the habit of posting on the refrigerator a prayer of Blessings This Thanksgiving. It included family members, friends and blessings perceived like jobs and a roof overhead. This rite of thanksgiving got misplaced in the changes life wrought but I awoke this morning wondering if I could list a thousand blessings in my life. I find that as my perspective has changed, allowing me to recognize blessings more efficiently, I believe I can list 1000 blessings in my life.
I would, of course, start with all who God has sent to be my family of birth, blood, law, choice, church and event plus the folks they have introduced into our lives. Since I'm no spring chicken just listing these folks would fill several pages.
I don't know how many tints, hues and colors exist in the world, but I love every one and am amazed at the shades of sunrises and sunsets, gardens and woodlands, deserts and bodies of water, skin tones and sparkling eyes, prom gowns and cars. That has to be hundreds of thank-yous right there. And thank you for all the artists of pallet and easel; loom, warp and weft; digital graphic designers and programmers; musicians and gardeners, architects and craftsmen; quilters and sculptors....you get the idea.
Oh, and I am grateful for the many words available to convey ideas. And how about the number of authors who create books and plays and poems that share ideas across hundreds of generations and a multitude of cultures. Movies make us laugh and make a point. Music fills our hearts with joy, our eyes with tears and set feet to tapping.
Inventions make our lives more interesting, less tedious and present countless possibilities starting with the wheel and currently being updated in the fertile and agile mind of a junior high science student dreaming of new ways to match possibility with capacity.
Then there are all the teachers that have blessed us and all those family members noted above. All the good men and women who serve and protect, the staff as well as physicians who tend our bodies when they fail to cooperate, accountants who keep better records than I can even imagine, food preparation folks who feed us when our Mom can not, colleagues past and present who shared their experience, perspective and skills, the folks who work to feed a nation from farmers to processors to truckers to merchants, all the folks who keep the computers processing data and the mom's and dad's willing to go all in to for the next generation, nursing home staff and the residents whose lives have populated our past.
Wow, I'd better stop or I'll still be adding items next Thanksgiving. Pretty sure that is more than a thousand blessings identified and appreciated!
My prayer for you today is this: Gracious God who sends abundant blessings even in the most challenging times, give us eyes to see, voices to speak appreciation to the world around us, and hearts full of amazing joy at all You have provided to delight us. Thank you for walking with us when our hearts are too heavy to notice the blessings of the moment and for Your encouragement to believe in the possibility of healing. Amen.
I would, of course, start with all who God has sent to be my family of birth, blood, law, choice, church and event plus the folks they have introduced into our lives. Since I'm no spring chicken just listing these folks would fill several pages.
I don't know how many tints, hues and colors exist in the world, but I love every one and am amazed at the shades of sunrises and sunsets, gardens and woodlands, deserts and bodies of water, skin tones and sparkling eyes, prom gowns and cars. That has to be hundreds of thank-yous right there. And thank you for all the artists of pallet and easel; loom, warp and weft; digital graphic designers and programmers; musicians and gardeners, architects and craftsmen; quilters and sculptors....you get the idea.
Oh, and I am grateful for the many words available to convey ideas. And how about the number of authors who create books and plays and poems that share ideas across hundreds of generations and a multitude of cultures. Movies make us laugh and make a point. Music fills our hearts with joy, our eyes with tears and set feet to tapping.
Inventions make our lives more interesting, less tedious and present countless possibilities starting with the wheel and currently being updated in the fertile and agile mind of a junior high science student dreaming of new ways to match possibility with capacity.
Then there are all the teachers that have blessed us and all those family members noted above. All the good men and women who serve and protect, the staff as well as physicians who tend our bodies when they fail to cooperate, accountants who keep better records than I can even imagine, food preparation folks who feed us when our Mom can not, colleagues past and present who shared their experience, perspective and skills, the folks who work to feed a nation from farmers to processors to truckers to merchants, all the folks who keep the computers processing data and the mom's and dad's willing to go all in to for the next generation, nursing home staff and the residents whose lives have populated our past.
Wow, I'd better stop or I'll still be adding items next Thanksgiving. Pretty sure that is more than a thousand blessings identified and appreciated!
My prayer for you today is this: Gracious God who sends abundant blessings even in the most challenging times, give us eyes to see, voices to speak appreciation to the world around us, and hearts full of amazing joy at all You have provided to delight us. Thank you for walking with us when our hearts are too heavy to notice the blessings of the moment and for Your encouragement to believe in the possibility of healing. Amen.
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