Counting Blessings

Thursday is Thanksgiving so I thought I’d start counting all that I have to be thankful for early.  I figure it will take me a couple days to name everything.  We are thankful everyday for our blessings, but often we get in a rut and name over and over those things which are foremost in our minds—food, clothing, shelter, and family.  I often find myself spending more time asking for more things than I spend being thankful for what I have already been given.  How selfish is that?

My greatest blessing is a Lord that watches over me every day, and it’s no easy task.  In fact, I don’t know how He has time for anybody else.  Just this morning, I had to stop and say “thank you, Lord” that a display of glass jars of homemade pumpkin didn’t all fall in the floor when I ran into it with my grocery cart.  I certainly don’t want to forget that He kept me safe amongst the Nashville drivers as I made my way to and from the grocery.

Not only does He help me out, He is constantly providing opportunities for me to help others.  Isn’t that a great blessing—the ability to help others?  Today, while at the grocery, I had two opportunities to help fellow shoppers.  One was a very pleasant woman who was in one of those electric wheelchair carts.  She needed a bottle of safflower oil from the top shelf.  That was easy to do.  Not only was she appreciative and thanked me several times, but she also told me what she was going to do the safflower oil.  She rubs it all over her body to help prevent dry skin.  Now there’s a tip.  I’m afraid I’d slip off the sofa if I did that and I hate to think of all that oil being washed down the shower drain into my gray tank.  Does safflower oil have an odor?  Would it attract mice?  I’ve had a mouse in the house.  That’s no fun.  I think I’ll just stick with my Vaseline Intensive Care lotion.  The other shopper I had the privilege of helping was a younger lady who was searching through jelly and jam when I turned the corner into that aisle.  She asked if I saw any cranberry jelly.  As I sent her down a few rows to the canned fruit I decided jellied cranberry sauce wouldn’t be all that bad on toast.  I’d hold the peanut butter, though.

As I went through the checkout, I was grateful to have the shopping done for the Thanksgiving festivities coming up this week.  If you know me at all, you know I’m not fond of shopping and that includes groceries.  But I was in store for one more blessing from this single shopping experience—Gene’s quiet “thank you, Lord” as I handed him the receipt which came in almost $10 under the budget.

The gratitude I felt as each of these incidents occurred, paled in comparison to the “Hallelujah, praise Jehovah” that passed my lips when Peanut didn’t fall in the toilet.  God is good all the time!