Counting your blessings


Count all your blessings,
each and every blessed one
add them all together
and be grateful for the sum.


House to clean, floors to wash = a place to live
Laundry to wash, pile of ironing = clothes to wear
Dirty dishes = food to eat
Books around the house = have the ability to read
Shopping to do = money to use
Toilets to clean = indoor plumbing
Lots of laughter = happy healthy children
Endless questions = children wanting to learn
A bed to make = a cosy place to rest at night
Crumbs under the table = family meals
Power bills = electricity to the home
Cold water and fresh food = refrigerator 
Pay taxes =  have a job
A lawn that needs mowing =  have a garden to grow things in
Complaining about government = a free country that allows freedom of speech
Medicine in the cupboard = access to doctors, chemists when sick
Talk about God with others = freedom of religion
Going to bed tired = I am alive


There are so many things to be thankful for BUT we simply forget — we take every day things for granted and forget that for many they do not exist. 

If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a cosy place to sleep — you are richer than 75% of the worlds population. 

If you have money in the bank, money in your wallet and have some spare you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. 

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness you are more blessed than the many many who did not survive this week. And if you do get sick, a doctor and hospital are with easy reach and they have all the latest medicines and technology. And your children are highly unlikely to die from preventable diseases because they have access to high quality sanitation, drinkable water, medicines.

The fact that your baby was born safely and you are alive means you have access to hospitals and good health care, many do not and mothers and babies die.  

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the agony of imprisonment or torture or the horrible pangs of starvation — you are more fortunate than the 500 million people suffering.

If you can read and write you are more fortunate than the millions who can not. 

Look around you— you are truly blessed, far beyond what you think.

Be content with what you have, find joy in those around you, be thankful that you neighbourhood is quiet and free from danger, stop getting anxious about nothing — we are so fortunate — we are blessed. 

Count your blessings, each and every one. 


Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

(Psalm 100:4)

*****

Comments

  1. It is easy to be grateful when I daily immerse myself in a world that is happening in the middle of WW2. But sometimes, when far removed from the suffering of others, I can forget that all the housework and gardening and all those piano practices are blessings. Reminders always help me to get back down to earth and truly enjoy my everyday life.
    Thank-you for the reminders!

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    1. It is a new way to look at housework- as a positive rather than a negative - be glad we can do them, as there are many with nothing. I look at all the refugees coming across from Syria, I think many of those women would love a house to clean, because right now they have nothing at all.

      Have a wonderful week.

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  2. I hang my head a bit because today, I forgot how blessed I am.
    Thank you, I feel better and prayed to God to forgive me.
    Now I'm going to go hug someone special!

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    1. :)) It is so easy to forget the blessings, I think we all do it - you are certainly not alone. Have a wonderful day and week.

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  3. There is MUCH to be thankful for! We are blessed in SO many ways! Many of us in the Western world have more than one Bible - and yet there are so many who do not have even one Bible translated into their own language!
    love,
    Bets

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    1. Very true - and we have technology that allows us to carry our bibles about and read them wherever we are without any problems.

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  4. So, so true - we do tend to forget just how blessed we are. Wonderful post.

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    1. Thankyou Jayne, the more I think about this the more I realise how fortunate I really am.

      Have a wonderful week.

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  5. We are so blessed! An excellent way to look at things... Thank you for sharing this on the Art of Home-Making Mondays Jo :)

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  6. I am convicted. Thank you Jo. May I write an intro to this and link to it on my blog, Harvest Lane Cottage. Please respond to lauraofharvestlane (at) gmail.com

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  7. My grandma wrote out a similar list on pretty stationery & gave it to me shortly after I got married :) I used to have it framed by my sink, but it's still packed away since we recently moved. Sure puts things in perspective, huh? I haven't minded doing dishes since I read it :)

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    1. I quite like doing the dishes which is one of the reasons why we don't have a dishwasher. It does put it in perspective which is why I shouldn't complain about cleaning the bathtub.

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  8. The Lord wanted me to find your words today! We have a couple of decisions to make and my heart has been in "need" mode over a move we have to make. Oh how wrong I am...no matter where we move...I will have all I need ~ anything extra is a bonus to be extremely thankful for :) #WiseWoman

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    Replies
    1. Sarah, God does move us in directions we do not always understand — trust Him in whatever He plans as He is always right :)

      In God's most precious Grace

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  9. Yes. I've been reminded of this more lately when I've visited the detention centre and seen the way international visitors are visited even when they haven't done wrong. We don't have to look at undeveloped countries to see sadness and suffering! And yet, it is so much worse in those places where war, persecution, poverty, famine and death are a daily event. :( A reminder to pray for believers in terribly situations and circumstances, and to pray for those who don't believe to come to God in humility and receive the greatest blessing of all, too.

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    Replies
    1. Sometimes I do think you need to have something to compare your situation to before you realise how blessed you really are. Its easy to say you have a blessed life, but when see what other people have to endure it really does put it in perspective.

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