Blessed

I know it has been a while since my last post, and that is mainly for two reasons. The first is that I have been very busy with work, beginning another semester of college, and spending time with my wife and baby Bryleigh. The second is that outside of those tasks, not much has been going on, nothing that would interest the readers of this blog anyway. However, there is an advantage to not having a lot going on in your life. It helps you to stop and appreciate all that you have. It is so much easier to focus on what you do not have or what you really want and think you need. Yet we rarely consider how blessed we are each moment of our lives. Just living in the United States is a blessing that most of the world never gets to experience. Not just the higher socio economic status that we have, but also the many freedoms that we so often take for granted. Sure, it is easy to find someone who seems to be blessed more than you are, but how often do we focus on the much higher percentage of those who have so much less than we have and would love to be in our shoes?

Last night as I sat in the recliner feeding Bryleigh, I was moved to consider all of the blessings in my life. I first thought of Bryleigh and what a blessing she has been to me, as well as the rest of my family. Not just because she is such a great baby, but also because she helps me to focus on someone other than myself. She reminds me of the joy of serving others and of how God loves us unconditionally even though we do nothing to earn or deserve his amazing love. I also noticed my dog Shylah lying by my feet and thought of how blessed I was to have such a great dog. Who else other than God could look past all of our weaknesses and failures and love us unconditionally without holding any record of wrongs? On the other hand, it would be great if we could show God the same kind of unconditional love that we get from our dogs. Just a thought.

I still have many goals in life and many things I would like to do. I do not always want to have to live paycheck to paycheck and wonder how we will meet each month’s bills. However, if I let that be my focus then I know I will miss so much along the way and may miss what God is trying to teach me. I just hope that in my daily life, I can live out Philippians 4:12 (I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation). The blessings I have in my life are far superior to anything money can buy and have a far greater return.
I hope that when you think about your life, the word that comes to your mind, as it does mine, is blessed.