DO
OUR BLESSIINGS OUT NUMBER OUR PROBLEMS?
you and
watching everything that concerns you.” I Peter 5: 7 (Living
Bible)
It was one of those days wherein everything seems to go wrong. The electricity had gone off during the
night and I was running late. I grabbed a fast breakfast; went to
brush my teeth and discovered that I put Brylcreme on
my toothbrush instead of toothpaste.
As I was tying my shoe, a good portion of the lace came off in my
hand. I scurried around trying to
locate another lace but was unable to find one of the right color. I rushed
out the door bumping the doorjamb with my elbow on the way out. After I sat a few minutes rubbing my
sore arm, I turned the key in the ignition and the only response was a loud
click! Have you had days like
that? Fortunately, mine are
few and far between! As I sat
there fuming and wondering what else could possibly go wrong, the above quoted
verse from I Peter came to mind and I quieted myself and said a brief
prayer. I wish I could report that
my car, given a second chance, turned over and started but that didn’t
happen. But what did happen was
that a sudden sense of calm came over me and I chuckled at my morning ordeal
deciding that the rest of day would be surely better!
Upon arriving at my office – instead of trying to catch up with the
events of the day, I took out a sheet of paper and divided it in half. On one side I listed my problems and
concerns and on the other the numerous blessings that I experience daily. I quickly discovered that the blessings
greatly outnumbered concerns and reflected on what had consumed most of my
energy up to that point in the day.
Abraham Lincoln’s well-known quote came to mind: “Most people are as happy and content as
they make up their minds to be.”
Closely related to Christian happiness and contentment is the
determination to live a life of praise to God and the simple process of
comparing the number of our problems versus our blessings will quickly reveal
that we have many reasons to give praise!
Further the enumerating of our problems and concerns will indicate that
frequently there is little we can really do about most of them. Yet, which often takes up the greater
share of our time if we let them?
We often fret and stew over situations that we can do little about. Instead of dwelling on the negatives of
our lives, we should daily seek fresh reasons for praising our Lord. May our prayer become: “ Help me,
Lord, to focus on my blessings and learn to turn my problems and concerns over
to You.” Amen