I Was Just Thinking by Don Huntington Making Blessings Count www.donwriteforyou.com 925-634-7927

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The principle of using blessings to bless others is an essential one for anybody attempting to put his/her whole self into life. The little single-panel character, Ziggy, often looks...

forlornly out of his comic strip paper and pronounces some dismal observation about how life doesn’t work as it should. In the case of the key quote in this column, however, Ziggy is shown entering a soup kitchen while making his profound observation about making blessings count.

Counting my blessings is an effective method of acknowledging them as blessings. There is a danger that good things in our lives may come to deprive us of the joy that is, after all, part of our legacy as human beings. The great nineteenth century clergyman and reformer made an important observation:

I think half the troubles for which men go slouching in prayer to God are caused by their intolerable pride. Many of our cares are but a morbid way of looking at our privileges. We let our blessings get moldy, and then call them curses.

The principle of blessings turning into curses is most obvious with material blessings. Some wealthy people regard their possessions as burdens — filling them with continual concern for conserving and maximizing their investments and weighing them down with concerns about the performance of the stock market or the state of the national economy. In some cases their palatial homes become sources of aggravation and anxiety as they continually fret about maintenance, upkeep, remodels, insurance — and ongoing apprehension about whether their neighbor or the government is doing something to diminish the value of their property.

We might imagine that these wealthy people whose prosperity is weighing them down with cares and worries are not in the habit of regarding their possessions as blessings given them by the hand of a beneficent God. The condition of these distressed rich people is made even more grim by their ignorance of the principle that they could be blessed much more by giving away their hoarded resources than by accruing them. Givers are more blessed through acts of giving than recipients are blessed through acts of receiving — and far more blessed than are greedy people through their grasping and hoarding.

As a direct reversal of the phenomenon of good things exerting negative influences upon people with the wrong attitude towards them, the act of accepting everything as coming from the hands of a benevolent God who does everything for the ultimate good of those embracing His will can finally create blessings out of the most terrible things that come to us. The mystical Sufi philosopher and poet, Jelaluddin Rumi, wrote the haunting and provocative words:

I saw grief drinking a cup of sorrow and called out, “It tastes sweet, does it not?”

“You’ve caught me,” grief answered, “and you’ve ruined my business. How can I sell sorrow, when you know it’s a blessing.”

“Count your blessings; name them one-by-one,” run the words of an old hymn. And they offer wonderful advice pointing to a constant reality in everyone’s life. In light of Ziggy’s observation, I might paraphrase the song: “Check your blessings; share them one-by-one,” and attach a principle of generosity to the recounting of each blessing:

• I am blessed materially: Therefore, I give to my church and share with people in need.

• My life is filled with joy: Therefore, I try to share His joy with people around me who are hurting.

• I am filled with unshakable peace: Therefore, I try to be an emotional rock and a refuge to people around me who are shaken by life.

• God has given me a comfortable home: Therefore, I entertain friends and strangers whenever the opportunity arises.

The list could go on and on, of course. Someone once asked a man how he was feeling. “I’m burdened this morning!” the man answered with a beaming face. The puzzled questioner asked, “Are you really burdened?” “Yes, but it’s a wonderful burden — it’s an overabundance of blessings for which I cannot find enough time or words to express my gratitude!” Then he quoted the old version of Psalm 68:19: “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits....

” I’m “burdened” just like that man. He daily “loadeth” me with benefits, as well. And I am eager to share these with others. What activity could be more happy than to keep counting my blessings? What better way to engage in life than by making my blessings count for others? Like someone said, “I’m too blessed to be stressed.”

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