Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hat done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done!
Count Your Blessings
Johnson Oatman Jr.
Published 1897

I remember singing this old song in church when I was a child. It became so familiar that I still remember the lyrics and the tune, though I have not sung it for many, many years. Today, it came back to me with a new passion. I began to sing and then I thought about the powerful words that this little chorus offers. There are some amazing truths found in the stanzas.
    Maybe it was brought to my attention by the Holy Spirit. Cathy and I have received some amazing blessings over the past few days. They weren't big things in the eyes of the world, but to us they were big. They were blessings from God who loves us and wants the best for us. Though some would say these were small things, the measure of a blessing is not based on the size. All blessings flow from the kingdom of God. Therefore, all are equal. Sometimes we forget that small things God does for us are just as important as the big ones. That's why I love this little song so much.
    You see, if we take the time to count our blessings, we will remember things that we never even thought were blessings. God is so gracious, so giving, and so loving that we are showered by his blessings all the time. We lose track of them because of the abundance. So we select the ones that seem big in our eyes, and remember those. But if we take time to remember, we will be amazed at the many blessings God has wrought. The song instructs us to name the blessings one by one. This means that we should speak them out loud. Let God, people, and even the army of the enemy know that we have been blessed. We should speak out the blessings so that all will hear and know the goodness of the Lord.
    Really, it is all about being thankful. We have become like spoiled children in some ways. We are so used to receiving blessings that we fail to thank our Father for them. I have decided to be thankful no matter the size of the blessing. The small ones are equally important and God deserves my thanks for those blessings as well as the big ones. I encourage you to take some time and count your blessings. Speak them out before God. Let everyone know that you have been blessed by our loving Father. And then, thank him for all that he has done. Let's not get so caught up in the whirlwind of life that we forget to be thankful. He is worthy of our praise, he is deserving of our thanks.