Count Your Blessings

Tomorrow is Christmas Day 2023 and around the world children of all ages will scurry up under the Christmas tree to find packages with their name prominently displayed. What a fun time for parents and loved ones to sit back and watch smiles broaden and excitement peak as items that once were part of Santa's mail order list materialize, leaving mounds of shiny wrapping paper, bows, boxes, and ribbon galore. We are a blessed bunch of people, we have so much to be grateful and thankful for, if we didn't have one present under the tree would it really matter? I guess that just depends on whether you can sit back and count all that we have to be thankful for instead of looking around making a list of the things that we "need" that we may not have in our possession. 

Over the last few weeks, I've been receiving quite the blessing from a new song that's out on the airwaves titled, of all things, "Counting My Blessings", by Seph Schlueter. There are a few lines in this song that have just touched my heart and I hope that you will take the three minutes or so to listen and reflect on your own blessings throughout the holiday season and beyond!

We have so much, we need so little, yet we want more. I get it, that's human nature, get more, want more, have more, want more, get more, that cycle just keeps spinning around and around, but I do believe in my heart that if we would only pause long enough to give thought to all we have been blessed with our Christmas list might take on another shape to that of one filled with the countless blessings we want to give thanks for to the One that we are celebrating this Christmas Day. 

In Schlueter's song, the artist begins counting 1, 2, 3, and then he goes straight up to infinity, remarking that he'd run out of numbers before he could thank God for everything that He has done in his life. If we will hit the pause button long enough to do our own inventory, I believe we would find the same to be true. The gifts we will give and receive on Christmas will be tangible presents purchased and wrapped with the recipient in mind, but the true gifts, blessings, we have received come in so many common every day forms that many times we end up taking them for granted, assuming that we have received those just because we are living and breathing. If you have a relationship with Your Maker, you know that is so far from the truth. God has graciously given us so many blessings and the list just continues to grow. Count'em up!

When you get up on Christmas morning, take a minute to start making a list of all you have and see if you don't get a smile on your face even before the first piece of wrapping paper is torn. Here's a starting point, take this and make it your own. “Rest from the night, a warm bed, a temperature-controlled home, running water, electricity that provides light, the ability to get up out of bed and walk, clean water to drink readily available by turning a knob, a hot shower or a cold shower if you dare, a refrigerator filled with more food than will be consumed, a sink, a stove, a microwave, and so much more! Wow, that's just blessings in the first 5 to 10 minutes after waking. My wife, our children, our grandchildren, my family and extended family, my parents that lived their lives teaching us what "do unto others" means, and all the life skills they taught Bob, Donna, and I. The trees, the dirt that allows the trees to grow, the green grass, the myriad flowers and colors of each day. The moon shining bright, the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, the stars, the clouds, the rain, the snow, the sleet, and maybe the hail?? My education, my career in education, coaching, the jobs I've had, and the job I have. Lessons learned, and lessons shared, the ups that we have celebrated and the not so fun times that have taught me to get up and face the day. Grit, resilience, humility, and gratitude. Friends, co-workers, those that have poured in to my life, and for the mind that God gave me to determine right from wrong.” Just as the song says, I've found it to be true, "I'd run out of numbers before I could thank You for everything". 

I may not be able to give everyone that reads this message today a gift, but my prayer is that this message I have the opportunity to share will be a gift that causes you to reflect on the blessings you have been given and causes you to give thanks! Merry Christmas.

"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 118:1

Coach Carter