Counting Blessings

When I was growing up, the story of the Pilgrims and the Native American Indians gathering in 1621 was inevitably remembered and told.  Maybe it is still told in some places.  Maybe being evicted from the elementary school scene by old age keeps me from hearing the story again and again.   I wonder, too, if maybe it is no longer remembered because someone saw it as a story of exploitation instead of one about two very diverse peoples coming together for a feast. 

 

What seems to have taken  the place of the old story of the first Thanksgiving is a huge turkey and Black Friday.  It would appear that Thanksgiving is more about getting stuffed and getting stuff than it is about gratitude.  The truth is gratitude is in short supply these days.  A grateful heart requires an awareness of blessings.  Being aware of blessings requires time to see what is all around us.  Not all blessings are as obvious as someone walking up to us with a large handful of cash, or watching the evening ball of fire sitting down in an ocean of water, or having someone unexpectedly offering some act of overwhelming kindness.  Some blessings come on the edge of the dark clouds of our life and can only be seen through quiet discernment. 

 

The Word of God calls us time and time again to live with a grateful heart.  It calls us to live with a grateful heart in the good times and in the bad times.  What is true is that we are blessed even in the midst of the dark things that overwhelm and confuse us.  The hand of God's blessing is never really lifted.  Blessings are always spilling out between those divine fingers.  Sometimes we allow our busy life style, the noisy world around us, or the bitterness of our own heart to clutter up our lives to the point that we no longer have any awareness of blessings.  If we find it hard to live with a thankful heart, maybe the place to begin is to do what the old gospel song calls us to do and that is "Count your blessings."