Blessings

Last semester my housemates and I realized that we had become negative people. We were constantly complaining about how much work we had to do. We were spending our time in bible study gossiping about the lives of others. We were letting our bitterness take over our spiritual lives and we decided to do something about it. That week we began a list on our refrigerator that we filled with the blessings in our lives. We attempted to begin every conversation with a positive thing that we had observed in our day. We chose to hold our tongues when we wanted to fill conversation with gossip.

That was a good week. We were smiling more. We were loving others more. We were more observant of God's blessings in our lives.

And then the week ended.

We fell back into the complaining and gossiping. And it happened so effortlessly. Why is that? Why do we let the negative things in life take over so easily? Why are we not thankful? Why can't we speak positively? Why is it so hard to see the blessings in our day-to-day lives?

I won't attempt to answer any of those questions. But I will say that during that week my housemates spent seeking out blessings, rather than dwelling in our trials, we were happier. We were more encouraging. And we were more aware of how God was working in our lives.

So once again I am going to make an effort to seek out God's blessings in my life.

Here are just a few:
-My friends. Their attempts to dance and sing to Lady Gaga entertain me more than anything.
-My parents. Their phone calls filled with questions and advice are intended to show that they love me very much. They are not intended to drive me crazy.
-Sunsets (and sunrises if I ever actually wake up to see one). Check out how many colors God has created. It's insane.
-My church. It has supplied me with so much biblical knowledge and awareness of God working in my life. I'm going to miss it like crazy next year.