Thursday, September 07, 2006

Counting My Blessings

Philippians 4:7-9 (TNIV)

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things... And the God of peace will be with you.

I've been a bit morose of late. I could make a list of things to be grumpy about, not the least of which is that I have no sermon for Sunday and no ideas. I didn't go to sleep until about 2 p.m. so I just woke up, which is a good thing under such circumstances. I need to get going. But I'm taking time to start a list that I will add to as I can for the next few days.

1. I can see. There was a time that such a simple statement was in danger of not being true.

2. I can walk and talk and think. See above.

3. I am alive to greet this beautiful day.

4. It is a beautiful day. The weather lately has been wonderful.

5. Patches the Cat no longer has a face full of sores. (Yuck. But true. Thanks to those who prayed for the cat a while back.)

6. I can take the cat into the nursing home, where she has curled up next to her "mom", behaved superbly, and comforted my mother with her purring and her soft fur and her round green eyes and her presence.

7. I have a job to go to. Which I will do very soon. That job is not just a job, it is a ministry, and I have a nice office in which to pray and read and think and work.

8. My husband loves me, and he tells me that many times a day.

9. People who have never met me have thought of me and prayed and blessed me and found ways to show it. (Thank you, dear Connie. What a precious woman you must be.)

10. Tomorrow I am going with Pat, Kelly, Nancy, and Donna to beautiful Door County. These are "church ladies" and we are doing a mini retreat in this lovely peninsula surrounded by Lake Michigan on one side and Green Bay (the bay, not the city) on the other. Nancy is allowing us to use her family property for free. Otherwise we could never afford this little trip.

4 comments:

LoieJ said...

During a difficult time, I kept a small journal of things that I was thankful for and happy about. This was a good exercise. And it turned from a couple of sentences/day to a paragraph or two.

Yes, there is always something to be thankful for.

Anonymous said...

Hooray for your gratitudes list! and I loved reading about the baptism.

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom's troubles. Extra prayers and blessings as you minister to her...in addition to the rest.

hugs

Anonymous said...

Why not preach on Philippians 4:7-9?

Theresa Coleman said...

I will pray for you and you can pray for me. I've been blue recently as well. I like your idea of the list -- I think I'll resurrect my "Thankful Jar", in which I put slips of paper of things I am thankful and then pull them out randomly.

Prayers your way, RevGal sister.