Consider Them All

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (ESV)

I find myself often being a pessimist.  Complaining about everything going wrong in my day to day life, and not even acknowledging all of the blessings that outnumber the hardships.  In fact, it amazes me how one bad thing can ruin my entire day, in my eyes, whereas one good thing barely puts a dent in my attitude on a bad day.  It feels backwards.  Especially as someone who has been saved by the grace of God, I should be overflowing with joy that he has saved me and has given me so many blessings whether they are as big as providing me with a car when I need it or as small as the smile of a child who is happy to see me.

We have so many blessings to consider:

The blessing of the sunshine, and the blessing of rain.  

The blessing of friends in good times and bad.

The blessing of food on our table whether it’s food we particularly like or not.

The blessing of being able to worship God freely and without fear each day and week.

The blessing of parents who love us and protect us, even if they get on our nerves sometimes (and they DO still love you, even when you don’t believe it.)

The blessing of being able to serve God anywhere in the world.

The blessing of being able to come to God in prayer at any hour of every day, no matter how tired or sweaty or irritated I am.  

I mean, have you ever stopped to consider the wonderful blessing of being able to approach God in prayer?  There used to be a separation between God and man that was hard to pass and even dangerous for the priests to pass lest they find themselves unworthy and die in God’s presence in the temple.  Now, though, God allows us to pray directly to him from anywhere at any time.  That is crazy!

I know hard days come, trials come, things seem to all go wrong.  But when everything seems to go wrong (and even when it’s all going pretty good), stop and name everything you have to be thankful for.  From the breeze that’s blowing outside, to the hug of a friend who is just saying “hi.”  Don’t be the person who’s glass is always half empty, but also don’t be the person who’s glass is only half full.  God’s desire is that we will be overflowing with hope and peace and joy!