My grandmother used to say ; count your blessings while the sun is up and…. She never used to complete it and whenever I do ask her to complete it she would say “or the rain may just wash them off”. I will end up smiling but also be left in thoughts. I always wondered how a tiny drop of rain(heavy drops sometimes) could wash my blessings off. But as I grew older it began to make sense. The mystery behind what she meant by count your blessings began to unfold. Although it took me a while to realize it(smiles).
On my way back from school today, the sun was scorchingly hot and it felt as though it was shining right into my skull. I tried to look for a safe haven to hide my head but there was none around. And then I remembered my grandma’s wise old saying. Earlier this morning it rained so much that I thought God was so angry with us. So much so that the thunder strikes shook the foundation of my home. Though it rained and of course messed up the road, hiked the fares of transportation, painted my black shoe red and white, the weather was incredibly cool. I had no need for the air-conditioner because every breeze that blew was cool and soothing.
I wasn’t happy that the rain was falling and messing up the roads, causing traffic jam every where, increased the pot-holes on the roads, and made the bus drivers richer but at about 2pm, the sun came up and i began to appreciate the rain, the cooling and soothing reliefs it brings afterwards. Immediately that other voice inside my head reminded me of how ungrateful I was. It quickly reminded me of how much I complained about the rain in the morning. Guess what? I quickly forgot about the scorching heat on my head and started feeling sad.
Yes! I felt so sad that I likened it to our everyday life. We complain and nag so much so that we forget the many blessings around us. Albert Einstein said “There are two ways to live our lives ; 1. To live as though every thing around us is a miracle. 2. To live as though nothing around us is a miracle”. Believe me, many of us(including me) live as though nothing around us is a miracle and so we miss out on a lot of things. We miss out of the little details God wants us to know and learn. The things that happen to and around us may not be good to us but that doesn’t mean they are not good for us. Oftentimes, we loose our blessings before we realize how important they are or even how blessed we are.
Faith is the one true shot we have to the things that happen to and around us. When we don’t understand why things are happening, we need to put on our garment of faith and believe they are working out for our good and live as though everything is a miracle. Until we are grateful for the rain, we will never appreciate the sun. Until we learn to appreciate the wrong ones in our lives, we will never be grateful for the right ones.
Are you trying to control what’s not yours to control? Are you fretting over circumstances that you can not and may never be able to change and even if you could, you’d probably mess up? Today, God is saying, “Be still, be grateful, listen, and trust him. Count your blessings and live everyday as a miracle.” God bless you…….
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