We Should Take Time To Count Our Blessings

Troy Conrad
Troy Conrad

When you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians 4:31-32

My middle son just shared a video on Facebook of a young child getting his first set of hearing aids. You can see the baby being upset that someone was messing with his ears. Then after they put the hearing aids in, all of a sudden a new world becomes open to the baby. At first his eyes go wide in astonishment and then the baby starts to smile because he's hearing sounds for the first time.

Yes. I bawled like a baby myself.

The video is entitled, "Baby Lachlan gets first hearing aids."

You see, my middle son was exactly like baby Lachlan. We travelled from Greenwood to the Children's hospital in Little Rock to get him his first set of hearing aids. He was two years old. When they put the set of hearing aids in, my son's reactions were amazing to watch. I had never realized he hadn't heard a bird chirp before. Not until he gave a surprised look at a bird in a tree as we were walking down the sidewalk.

I never knew he didn't know the sound a semi-truck makes as you pass it on the interstate. Until his eyes were thrown wide open the first time we did.

Mommy's lullabies. Daddy's jokes. The sound of rain on a window sill.

We take so many things for granted in life. The blessings we have, the abundance of food. The fact that we can hear or even the amazing blessings of glasses and hearing aids. It was just a few short years ago that children born with eye and ear defects had to live their entire lives that way.

Even in our world today children go to bed hungry or go without the kind of health care they need. In other countries, diabetes makes many blind and malaria still kills the young. For some, electricity is a luxury, or even a dream they wish they had.

We become so distracted with the minor "inconveniences" in life that we forget the myriad of blessings that God has given to us. We're too tired from work to thank God for the food on our tables. We're too busy running to ballgames to give thanks for our healthy children.

We're just filled with all kinds of "too's."

Maybe we should start taking time for a few "oh's" instead.

"Oh, God. I cannot believe the amazing blessing You have given us through contact lenses. I thank you so much for them and allowing me the opportunity of having a set that makes me look like a normal person."

There are so many things in this world that God has given us to make our children's lives normal. And you know what? I just realized that's one of the best blessings God can ever give us.

A normal life.

Thank you God. Thank you for giving my children a normal life.

Let us pray.

Dear God. May your gracious presence surround us this day, so that obedience to your Word becomes a joy rather than a burden. May the depth of your Grace, the width of your Love, the height of your Joy, inspire us, here and now, to more fully be your people, folks known not by forced friendliness, but by gracious goodwill. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

PASTOR TROY CONRAD IS MINISTER OF THE FARMINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH.

Religion on 09/17/2014