Counting my Blessings, Or, How to be Thankful
I woke up this morning with a song stuck in my head. More accurately I woke up with a couple of lines of the song running over and over in my head on repeat like a toddler asking why.
The song was I’m so blessed by Cain and to be honest, it’s not my type of song. I went for walk with Bailey, our crazy labrador, and my coffee, still singing along to myself,
I’m so blessed, I’m so blessed
Got this heartbeat in my chest
No, it doesn’t matter about the rest
If I got You Lord, I’m so blessed
What is Blessed?
It made me think about blessing and what it means because my health has not been great this year. I have had two falls within two weeks of each other, both of which have had some long-term effects. My back has recently had a complete meltdown, and I crashed my car on Friday. It really does feel like one thing after another at the moment. All of this has been physically limiting and incredibly frustrating. Would I call that blessed?
There Are Good Things When We Look For Them
There was a time when it would have been a struggle to see the blessings with all the things that are going wrong. I would have failed to see the blessings big and small that are happening around us. I would have struggled to be thankful and my focus would have been on all of the bad stuff.
There are so many good things in life to focus on. We have a roof over our heads, and my garden is beautiful and was able to provide some food for us this year. We live in an incredible location with unbelievably kind landlords. No one was hurt in the car accident, we have good jobs, and our kids are doing well.
The lyrics of the song say,
And when I count the problems that I see
Hope looks all, but gone (Yeah)
But when I count the ways You’re good to me
You got me counting all day long
This time last year we had spent six weeks with no home. We were really not sure when we were going to be able to find somewhere permanent to live. During that time, one of the things I really focused on was finding something good to thank God for every day.
I was struggling with my mental health in the middle of the mess. Some days I could literally only manage to be thankful for coffee, but it was a start. It is a practice that has changed my mindset and helped me to focus on all of the good things. rather than focusing on everything that is going wrong.
If you are having a hard time at the moment, if it seems like there is nothing to be thankful for, try starting with one thing. Just one, even if it is just something small like a coffee in the morning. Sometimes a change of focus makes all the difference in the way we see our circumstances.
Article supplied with thanks to 1079life.