Count Your Blessings

 My co-workers and I have had a little joke going between us about the word, "Blessed."  There are so many signs, t-shirts, and memes that label people as "blessed,"  but what does that really mean?  There is absolutely nothing wrong with recognizing how blessed we are in our nation.  Currently, there is a lot of complaining and fault-finding, but ultimately, our nation is very blessed.  Have you found yourself saying, "I'm so frustrated because I can't fit all of my groceries in my refrigerator."  Or how about this, "my wifi keeps going too slow or dropping because we have too many devices in our house.  I can only get one pack of toilet paper today."  Have your heard your children say, "I can taste the difference between generic and name brand food."  All of these are first-world problems.  Our problems are an inconvenience, but how many are facing true hardships- homelessness, hunger, neglect, or abuse?  These things even happen in our communities in America.  Within my community, I have watched little children that I have fed vomit because they ate too fast since it had been so long since they had last eaten.  I have seen teenagers confess that they were abused their whole childhood.  I've seen children needing to make adult decisions because their parents are too addicted to drugs to be there for them.  These are hardships.  We are blessed.  The reason my co-workers and I are bothered by the blessing statement is because we acknowledge that we are blessed, but what is the motivation?  We can live a life of blessing by letting God pour those blessings through us to help others.  Thanking God in our prayers and sharing what God has given us is to be truly blessed.  There is a woman in my church that constantly pours out whatever God has given her into others' lives.  If you say you are hungry, there will be a bag of groceries waiting on your doorstep.  If you admire her sweater, it will be in a gift bag for you the next Sunday.  She is by no means rich, but because she lets God give through her, she finds herself blessed by God daily.  She wins give-away items at stores.  People walk up to her and give her things that she in returns passes on to others.  It makes me think of the widow in the Bible.  While the wealthy made a big production about giving in the offering plate, she quietly gave what little she had to God.  Jesus said she gave more because she gave all she had.  That is being blessed.  The other type of blessed is when you let everyone know the great things you have, but you never share from that blessing.  Have you seen someone on social media post, "I am so blessed to have this great vacation, home, car."  There is nothing wrong with expressing our appreciation for our good fortune, but do you stop there?  Do you remember that others don't even have food?  Being blessed is having the ability to reach out to others no matter how much or little you have, not gaining more and more stuff.  So this Thanksgiving, don't just be blessed, be a blessing.