Count your Blessings

 

 While searching for a quotation about Thanksgiving, which the United States will celebrate next week, I came across this line by Robert Caspar Lintner:

  

“Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day.”

 The words struck a chord with me. Perhaps because Thanksgiving is coming up and it’s a day set aside for counting our blessings. Perhaps because it reminded me that I don’t give thanks every day. I’m always grateful for the big things that go my way: the healing of people I love, the protection of family and friends, the new job for my daughter or son-in-law, for safe travels, for missing the car skidding across the ice in front of us. I always remember to say thanks for the big ticket and miracle-like items.

I don’t, however, remember to say a word of thanks for the little blessings in life that I take for granted. When I can get out of bed and my knees don’t creak, I’m very grateful, but I don’t say, “Thank you, Lord.” When the hot water comes on in the shower, I don’t give it a second thought. However, when it doesn’t (and it has happened) I’m quick to complain. When my car starts because the battery’s still good, I don’t whisper a word of gratitude. I just put the vehicle in drive and head out. Day after day I go about my daily life often forgetting to say a word of thanks for all the little things that go right.

 Years ago a friend encouraged me to keep a gratefulness journal. I didn’t, thinking it was just another thing I’d have to add to my to-do-list. I wonder now just how many pages I might have filled with gratefulness for the little blessings in my life.

 There’s a song called “Count Your Blessings” that has always been one on my favorite hymns. You can click here to listen to the song, written by Johnson Oatman Jr. in 1887. The song speaks of counting one’s blessings when thing are tough. But it’s the chorus I want to concentrate on today. The words are:

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God has done.

 

During this month of thanksgiving, and every other day of the year, I’d like to encourage you to count your blessings—big and small—every day. It may surprise you what the Lord has done.

 

 

Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway.

Solve by Christmas by Amber Schamel (ebook)

Winner of the 2018 Christian Indie Award for Historical Fiction.

Be sure to leave comments throughout the week to get your name in the drawing. Giveaway ends November 18th. Winner will be announced in the November 19th edition of the Weekly Windup.

About the Author

Catherine Castle has been writing all her life. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. Besides writing, Catherine loves traveling with her husband, singing, and attending theatre. In the winter she loves to quilt and has a lot of UFOs (unfinished objects) in her sewing case. In the summer her favorite place to be is in her garden. She’s passionate about gardening and even won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club.

Her debut inspiration romantic suspense, The Nun and the Narc, from Soul Mate Publishing was an ACFW Genesis Finalist, a 2014 EPIC finalist, and the winner of the 2014 Beverly Hills Book Award and the 2014 RONE Award. Her newest book, a romantic comedy with a touch of drama, entitled A Groom For Mama, from Soul Mate Publishing, is a 2018 Raven Award winner for contemporary romance. You can follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, Facebook or through her blog Romance for the Ages