Greatly Blessed

This morning I am reflecting on the incredible blessings of our life.  Yesterday my reflection was on maintaining faith in the midst of difficulty, but today, as I thought through our life, I recognized that struggle and difficulty is just one perspective, a very real one, but certainly not the whole story. My honey likes to say that 'life is a matter of attitude' and attitude is how we choose to interpret our situation, based on our perspective, or what we are focused on.  

There are times I struggle to maintain my focus on the things that matter, as in this last week, when circumstances are changing fast and I was working hard to understand and adapt and overcome.  However, given a couple of days, I usually get my focus back and am able to change my perspective to view life with a clearer view.   

This morning, I am looking at our present situation and we are greatly blessed.  We have a warm and comfortable house, plenty of food, clean water and electricity and natural gas are readily available.  While we have some health struggles, we are both ambulatory, able to care for ourselves, able to do what we want, when we want.  We are not dependent on medicine or machines to keep us alive.  We have more luxury, more comfort than many of the people of the world.  We have wonderful neighbors, wonderful friends, and fantastic families.  We live peaceful lives, free of major contention, struggle, or even disagreements.  We attend a wonderful church with other like-minded believers and are able to meet freely, able to give voice to our faith.  We don't struggle to make ends meet, we don't struggle to find our next meal, we don't struggle to stay warm, or protect our belongings.  We live in a country that is the envy of many.  We have our own home, our own vehicles, our own phones, computers, appliances and whatever else we desire.  Our lives, in comparison to many people of the world, and most of history, are greatly blessed!  

When I think about the struggles of this past week, in comparison to all the blessings I am surrounded by, I realize they are not as important as they seemed, and that helps me to regain my focus on the more important things.  Sure my job is how I am presently provided for, how I feed my family and pay my bills, but in the greater scheme of things it is just my job, and I am sure I could find another.  What is more important are my relationships with the Lord, my wife, my kids, my family, and my friends!  In fact, if I took away all the physical comforts, my relationships would still qualify me as greatly blessed for they are the most valuable to me!  I may not communicate it well, but to me love, fellowship and friendship are the most important things in my life!  

I am reminded of a Psalm of David.  He is speaking of himself, the King, and if I replace "The King" with "Me" or "I" the following would be true for me, other than the Kingly stuff, like Gold Crowns, etc. .  - Psalm 21:1-7 NIV:

[1] "The king rejoices in your strength, Lord. How great is his joy in the victories you give! 

[2] You have granted him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. 

[3] You came to greet him with rich blessings and placed a crown of pure gold on his head. 

[4] He asked you for life, and you gave it to him---length of days, for ever and ever. 

[5] Through the victories you gave, his glory is great; you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty. 

[6] Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence. 

[7] For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken."

Thank You Lord for Your great blessings!!