Counting My Blessings

Some days like today, my life seems to stand still. I notice all the things around me that I usually take for granted. Gray, chilly days have that effect on me. It was so windy today, and the cool brisk air hardly felt like a Spring day at all. When it is this kind of day, I don’t feel like doing the things that I would do on a sunny day. So, I am more reflective. Everything seems to make me smile on windy, cool days. It is as if I have an excuse not to have to run into busyness with a million things to do.



I read in an old book of mine this lovely poem:

“Life holdeth much happiness,
A day is like a golden cup,
Which God Himself stopped down to bless,
Before He filled it up”

I wonder how many days hold happiness that I neglect to notice because I am so busy that time flies by and at the end of the day I am left with a blur and a “to do list” for tomorrow. “A day is like a gold cup” and it is filled with so many blessings. If you are like me there are days that I take all the things that are good in my life for granted and focus on the worries and my list of things to do. I forget to stop and look around at the golden cup and count my blessings. Gray, chilly days I suppose should be gloomy, but instead they always cheer me up, because I have time to look around and be thankful.



It's funny but an acute awareness of being thankful today consumed my thoughts. The world news held so much world tragedy today making my worries pale in comparison. Ashley came home in awe. The wind caused a tree to fall down in the parking lot where she was parked and barely missed her car by inches. Ned came home while I was out food shopping. It seemed like a good day to make the house smell good with my bread machine baking bread for supper. I had left some homemade soup and some homemade bread for them.




When I got back from food shopping he said he was so thankful, because on Mother's Day he had told his mom he missed homemade bread. He said that he felt thankful because it had made him feel loved when he had walked into the house and it smelled so good and then he saw supper waiting for him. My daughter Sarah and I drove up to Vermont to see my mom, planning to drive back late last night. We didn't get back until 2 o'clock A.M. and Sarah had to get up early for work this morning. My mom said that she had felt so loved by the gesture and that she is so thankful. Sarah and Ashley made me feel so loved all weekend with mother's day thoughtfulness.





I wonder if it is the starkness of life sometimes that makes our blessings shine. Is it the gray day that makes me examine the color in my life a little closer, or is God simply shining down a little brighter because he knows that the light is a bit dim. Today was one of those days that I wish wouldn't end, because we were all reminded to count our blessings. I felt wrapped in a spirit-filled embrace.



I first discovered wonderful Diana Krall when I lived in Canada. The way she sings this song perfectly suits my mood tonight. She sings the lyrics to Count Your Blessings Instead Of Sheep. I am thankful for today and before I go to sleep tonight, I am sweetly reminded to put my worries aside for today, and dwell on my blessings and memorize each one.