After I had completed a book signing event, I was packing the extra books and promotional items in my car when I heard my friend suddenly exclaim; “I never noticed those there before.”
I turned to face her and saw her head tilted back looking up at the sky.
I too turned my head upward and saw a bright blue sky with puffy, white, popcorn clouds and I smiled and jokingly replied; “What? The clouds?”
She laughed and shook her head.
“No, those shoes,” she replied, pointing to a pair of old shoes that were hanging by their shoelaces above us on the power line. I had already noticed them hanging there before but I couldn’t resist teasing her. Later that same week she and I were admiring a friends beautiful photograph of the sun spilling out through cracks in the clouds and shooting sunbeams across the bright, blue sky.
“I love looking at the pictures you take. I was outside on the same day you were taking those pictures but I was looking down at the ground and thinking how dry it was,” my friend commented.
“You need to look up more often,” I said, both of us thinking back to the incident with the shoes. We smiled. It’s true though. There’s so much to be seen and so much to enjoy in God’s creation if we just took the time to look up from our troubles and notice them. This friend was the one who first inspired me to begin my thankfulness journal and consequently this blog. This particular subject brought it all back to mind in a flash. Both of us began discussing where we were in our thankfulness journals and about the blessings we had recorded inside. Both of us agreed that at first it was easy to record the blessings around us but after a while it began to get old and seemed like more of a chore or a numbers game. It had become difficult to find new blessings and record them.
So lately, instead of looking at it as something I have to do, I look at it as something I get to do. It’s not about reaching the 1,000 mark as I number each blessing in my journal. I don’t try to rush the process. I simply try to keep alert and observant to my surroundings and in tune to what God and others are doing to bless me. I enjoy each blessing as it comes and record it in my journal whenever I can find the time. Sometimes I even write reminders on my cell phone so that I don’t forget to record them. This journal is my thanks to God. I write it as though I am speaking to Him. I get excited about it and look forward to being able to thank Him as much as I can. I may have five in a day or five in a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. It all depends on my focus. Each entry is something entirely new that I am thanking Him for, however, that doesn’t mean I don’t thank Him for the usual and regular blessings that happen every day. My thankful heart and gratitude is something I can actually give back to God.
When we do something really special for a loved one wouldn’t it be such a disappointment if that person didn’t even take the time to notice it, appreciate it, use it, enjoy it and be thankful for it? What if they did the exact opposite? What if they ignored it, undervalued it, abused it, grumbled and complained about it not being as much or as often as we wanted it to be? Wouldn’t that just take the blessing away? It’s hard to be and to give a blessing to someone who doesn’t value it. What if, like God, you really valued the gift you have given, the service you have shown, the sacrifice you’ve made? What if you knew that once you bestowed this precious, sacred, invaluable, irreplaceable gift in their possession that they would abuse, use, break, undervalue and destroy it? Would you still give it to them? God does this for us every day yet too often we overlook His blessings. He has trusted us with the world and everything in it even though time and time again we have proven ourselves untrustworthy, ungrateful and very slothful in our care of it.
The blessing of health, life, food, money, safety, clothes, a home, bed, job, family, friends, pets, nature, changing seasons, books, music, pictures, etc… What if all those things were taken away? Sometimes we do have to suffer the loss of one or two of these things but rarely does one loose all at once and when we do lose just one of these things we cry, complain, throw a fit and blame God for not being there when we needed Him, when in reality He has been there all along in each little blessing and providing those blessings and maintaining them even though He receives little if any thanks in return. Yet He still bestows His blessings hoping that one day we will learn to value what He values.
But how can we when we are always looking down? Down at the all the mess of life instead of up into the joys and blessings of the beautiful sunset or sunrise, the breathtaking cloud formations, the deer grazing in a field, the colorful wings on the butterfly, our children’s excited faces, our parents love and acceptance, our husband or our wife’s sacrifices and service, our friends sweet note or text letting us know we’re in their thoughts and prayers, our church body who brought food or provided a vehicle when our spouse or parent was out of a job. All these lovely things are overlooked as instead we choose to look down. Down at the dry ground instead of up and the glorious sky. We miss so much.
What a joy it is when you can lay down your cares and worries at the feet of Jesus and take time to enjoy His blessings. When was the last time you did that? When have you stopped your hectic life and took a drive down an old dirt road, rolling down the widows, sticking out your hand and letting the cool air whip through your fingers and wisps of hair, the occasional drops of rain splashing down on your smiling face and looking out at the rustic, old houses and barns, the fields of wheat and corn, the gnarly old tress with vines growing up their massive old grey trunks and admiring the large grooves of bark, the sun spilling through the rustling leaves, the tree branches that make an arch over the road, the old rope swing tied to a high branch and the sunset at the end of the clearing. So many blessings. You must learn to enjoy them and take the time to thank the Lord for each one for one day you may be too old to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel them. Enjoy it now. Take the time to stop and look up.
While you look up today, tell me what you see. Thank God for all those blessings surrounding you and if and when you have a moment, please take the time to share them with us all by writing your comment to this blog post. I love to hear how the Lord is blessing your life.
Glowing
sun orb, fiery orange 
Casting
smashing shades upon 
Tall
pines which stand erect
Sheets
of rain descend 
And
as the sun begins to set 
Of
the Creators true intent
Yet
often fail to understand
