Don’t Forget

Periodically in the Pacific Northwest, we are blessed with absolute gorgeous days! The sun is shining, the flowers are in full bloom, the green, lush foliage on the trees is back after a long, grey winter, the glimmering snowcapped peaks provide the most breathtaking backdrop to this incredible Divine canvas you will find anywhere in the world! The sheer beauty literally renews you—body, mind and spirit!

If you live in this part of the world, you need days like that. You see, we can begin to think winter will never end. But it always does. Seasons come and go—I’m as right as rain on that one (okay, bad bromide—but I’m a northwesterner, I can’t help myself).

Likewise, the seasons of life come and go. Winters of discontent and disappointment don’t last forever, but when we are in the middle of them, we might think there will never be an end. The psalmist started off his song thinking this way. Then he did something you and I need to do every once in a while—maybe even a lot: Recall the goodness of God and recount the many blessings of being his child. Believe me, if you will remember not to forget how good God is and how he has unconditionally blessed you, it will be just like that sunny Spring day to release hope and renew joy in your soul once again.

Here is your assignment: Make your appeal to the track record (“the years”) of grace (“the right hand of God”) and record them in your journal or put them on a piece of paper and keep them where you can regularly review them. Do what the old Gospel song suggests:

Count your blessings; name them one by one.
Count your many blessings see what God has done!

What are those blessings? How about starting with the big one—salvation! No matter what happens here and now, I will be saved, secure, productive, joyful and significant for all eternity—and none of it I deserve. How about the fact that I was born in a land of opportunity! If you’ve travelled at all around the world, you will begin to appreciate how much you have—even the little things. How about the fellowship of believers in your life! How about your health! How about that you have eyes to read this page, or a mind that can reflect on God’s goodness! How about that you have another day of life and breath!

If you are slogging through a winter of discontent, let me challenge you to take on this assignment. See if what I’m suggesting doesn’t help! What do you have to lose? Try it, and let me know what happens.

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“To bless God for mercies is the way to increase them; to bless Him for miseries is the way to remove them.” (William Dyer)

Making Life Work: Literally, count your blessings, name them one by one. Write them on  piece paper. Once you get to twenty-five, I guarantee, you’re going to feel a whole lot better.