Blessings

There's an old hymn I remember singing at church when we lived in Ohio. We sang it moderately slow... though, truth be told, we sang all the hymns moderately slow. It's called Count Your Blessings, and the chorus goes like this:

Count your blessings
Name them one by one.
Count your blessings
See what God has done.
Count your blessings
Name them one by one.
Count your many blessings
See what God has done.

This has been such an up and down year for our family that I've often wondered what I'd be able write in our Christmas letter come December. The Count Your Blessings chorus is on a CD Brenna rediscovered a few weeks ago. It's one of a handful of hymns that send my mind spiraling back to the sanctuary at Trinity Friends Church. For some reason I remember sitting on the right side of the church about a quarter of the way back singing this song. Hymns have a way of doing that. They're like couriers who take us back in time.

I think this year we'll count our blessings in our letter. We'll give thanks for a year of highs and lows that taught us much and showed us a bit of what we're made of. In honor of Thanksgiving, here's a partial list of blessings from 2008:

1. The bone in Brenna's thumb healed
2. Our home
3. Gas prices have dropped back to a reasonable amount
4. Stimulus checks that covered medical bills
5. Cars that get us where we need to go
6. Family vacation in Tennessee!
7. I love my job
8. Daniel's vocabulary and other accomplishments
9. Plenty of good food
10. Answered prayers along the way
11. And probably a few unanswered ones too
12. Knowledgeable and compassionate doctors (for me and my extended family)
13. Good friends
14. Blankets
15. Another opportunity to lead a Bible study


Take a few minutes to count your blessings - I bet, like me, you'll find it hard to stop!