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GOD'S BLESSINGS

Many people today are bored, battered and broken. Life is hard
and we need God's blessings in order to make it. The special
blessing Jesus received at his baptism enabled him to
withstand temptation and persecution. God said, "This is my
beloved Son, and I am wonderfully pleased with him" (Matt. 3:17,
Liv)

Once a woman expressed it this way. She said, "I could have
given you a litany of everything that was wrong in my life. I
was frazzled and depressed. I was also angry and envious. I
compared myself to others and resented what seemed to be missing.

"One day, when I could no longer stand the sound of my own
whin­ing, I realized that I'd been blind to all the good things
in my life."

Researchers on the mind/body con­nection suggest such a
thankless at­titude can lead to health problems. The antidote is
to appreciate the "little things" in life that really aren't so
little after all.

The stressed out woman said, "Once I realized how my attitude
had been hurting me, I sat down and told myself, 'You're not
going to leave this table until you write down 100 reasons to be
grateful.' Six hours later, I had a list of more than 150
overlooked bless­ings, including my health, a beautiful
daughter, a family that loved me, ani­mals I loved, good
friends, a job that provided a steady income, the aroma of
something de­licious cooking in the kit­chen, aircon­ditioning
when it's hot, an unexpected compliment, a walk in the woods,
two hours in a book­store, watch­ing the sun set, meeting a
kin­dred spirit, holding hands with my hus­band, laughing,
getting flowers - you name it!

"There had been only one thing missing my life: the awareness of
how much I actually had! So, I start­ed writ­ing down five
things to be grate­ful for at the end of each day. Soon I was
keep­ing a gratitude jour­nal, which later became the crux of my
book.

"Finally, I awoke one morning to the realization that, almost
imper­cep­ti­bly, I had become a happy wo­man."

All of us have blessings and we need to be aware of them and
grate­ful for them. There's a New Testa­ment story about
gratitude. Once "As (Jesus) was going into a village, ten men
who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out
in a loud voice, 'Jesus, Master, have pity on us!' When he saw
them, he said, 'Go, show your­selves to the priests.' And as
they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was
healed, came back, prais­ing God in a loud voice. He threw
him­self at Jesus' feet and thanked him- and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus ask­ed, 'Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other
nine?' " (Luke 17:12-17).

Jesus was so concerned about the nine lepers' lack of gratitude
be­cause he knew that an unacknowl­edg­ed blessing becomes a
curse. If we re­fuse to praise the Lord for his good­ness, the
blessing we've re­ceived be­comes a block in our relationship.

Once a seaman risked his life in a storm to save a man whose
boat had capsized. He pulled the man out of the sea, gave him
mouth-to-mouth resusci­tation, and under perilous con­ditions
got him back to port and to a hospital. When the young Coast
Guardsman went to visit the survivor later in the day, he was
astounded by his attitude. The man never said, "Thank you."
Even though he was alive because of the sailor's courage in
danger, he treat­ed him with a total lack of apprecia­tion. In
fact, he was rude.

That seems unbelievable; but think of how much we receive from
the Lord and how ungrateful we are! Let's enumerate and
appreciate the blessings of our lives.

I. FIRST, WE HAVE PHYSICAL BLESSINGS.

We have food and clothing and shelter. We have cars and TV's.
We have sunshine and rain. We have the beauties of the earth.
We have so much. The Psalmist said, "Let them give thanks to
the Lord for his unfail­ing love and his wonderful deeds for
men" (Psa. 107:8).

Some of our blessings are hid­den. Gordie Howe, star of the
Na­tion­al Hoc­key League remembers how dur­ing the Depression
his moth­er once helped a neighbor who was having financial
difficulty.

The woman opened a laundry bag that contained an assortment of
odds and ends and said, "I need to sell these things! Gordie
knew that his parents were poor too, and he knew his mother was
not really in­ter­ested. But Mrs. Howe sensed the neighbor's
des­peration. "How much do you want," she finally asked.
"$1.50 for the lot."

Mrs. Howe went to her purse and returned with a handful of
change. The woman handed her the bag, thanked her and left.
Mrs. Howe set the bag aside unopened. One day Gordie looked
inside. What he found was a pair of ice skates just his size-
something the family could not afford to buy him. It was these
skates that put Gordie on the road to fame as one of the best
hockey play­ers in the world.

All of us have many physical blessings.

II. NEXT, WE HAVE EMOTIONAL BLESSINGS.

We have family and friends. We have people who love us. We
have rec­reation. We have so much. Paul said, " Let the peace
of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you
were called to peace. And be thankful" (Col. 3:15).

One Thanksgiving, a man re­ceiv­ed a letter. It said: Dear Mr.
Davis: I just feel good every time I pass you." It expressed
several more com­pliments, and was by the 12-year-old son of a
couple he knew.

The man phoned to thank him for the spirit-lifting letter. The
child wasn't at home, but his mother was. She ex­plained,
"Every Thanksgiving each of our children write to three people
who have meant something special in their lives. It's our way
of saying thanks to God for the friends He has given us."

All of us have many emotional blessings.

III. FINALLY, WE HAVE SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.

We have God's love and God's assurance and God's presence. Paul
said, "Thanks be to God for his inde­scrib­able gift!" (II Cor.
9:15);

"Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 15:57).

A father related this incident from his past: He said, "Our
Lisa was so small and frail in the hospital crib.

As we looked at her, we scarcely notic­ed the man who came and
stood with us. Then he asked, "Would you mind if I said a prayer
for your baby?"

Dully we nodded our heads, and he prayed aloud for our little
one. I wondered why this man would pray for a child he didn't
even know? Was he a minister or a priest?

Then he explained that his little girl was just leaving the
hospital after successful heart surgery. He said, "Many people
prayed for her recovery and I just want to pass on those
prayers."

Our baby's surgery was success­ful too and now, as I watch her
play, I often think of that unknown father. I cannot thank him
for his prayers any more than I can repay the kind people
who took care of our other children, who cooked meals and
washed clothes

while our baby was sick. Often we're not able to actually repay
kindnesses, but we can pass them on.

Now each time I send soup to a sick friend, or run an errand for
an el­der­ly neighbor or say a prayer for an in­jured person, I
know that I am pass­ing on the love that has been shown to us.

We can't always repay, but we can pass on! The man left beaten
on the road to Jericho was probably never able to repay the good
Samaritan di­rect­ly, but I like to think that he passed the
Samaritan's kindness on to some­one else.

This Thanksgiving, let's pray this prayer: "Lord, help me to be
a link in the chain of kindness that passes on the blessings I
have received."

***

These messages are from an unpublished manuscript © copyrighted
by Miles and Maralene Wesner, Idabel, OK. Please use them in
any way you think appropriate. The only thing we ask is that
you give credit for original material in published works.

My ministry has been blessed immeasurably by reading other
people's sermons. When I started preaching 55 years ago, I
waited for "inspiration" (usually Saturday night, about
midnight) before I began my sermon preparation. Then, I
discovered it wasn't inspiration at all-it was sheer PANIC. I
would have welcomed this service.

Comments are always welcome. (Please indicate if you do not want
your comments to appear in New Perspectives).

Miles E. Wesner