STORIES OF BLESSINGS ON NOVEMBER 30, 2014, PART 2
TOPICS IN THIS BLOG POST:
1 NANOWRIMO AND MY WRITING PROGRESS
2 I AM BACK
3 WHERE DO BLESSINGS COME FROM?
4 BLESSINGS AND THE BIBLE: COLOSSIANS 4:2 (NLT)
5 A LIFE OF GRATITUDE OR INGRATITUDE
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1 NANOWRIMO AND MY WRITING PROGRESS
Written 2014-11-30 09:23:20, Sunday
I am participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month of November 2014) this year and am trying to write a portion of my "STORIES OF BLESSING: A BOOK OF GRATITUDE AND THANKSGIVING, VOL. 1" as part of the writing challenge. Hence, the writing challenge for me has become a blessings challenge.
In order to win NaNoWriMo, I have to write 50,000 words.
I started this yesterday with 38,000 words and as of now, I have 46,315 words written. (Yay!)
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2 I AM BACK
Written 2014-11-30 13:08:41, Sunday
Okay. I am back. I just got back from lunch with a friend. Now, I need to get focused all the more on blessings. (It was a huge blessing seeing my friend and their little one.)
So, here we go.
Blessing... Stories of Blessing... Counting our blessings...
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3 WHERE DO BLESSINGS COME FROM?
Written 2014-11-30 13:24:05, Sunday
QUESTION
So, where do blessings come from?
I sit and let the question roll around in my head for a bit. And, as I think things through, I will write them and share them with you. So, these are just the thoughts of a fool.
THINKING THINGS THROUGH
Everything has an origination. Blessings do not come from thing, by chance. Blessings have an origination. They come from something.
Wait. Blessings cannot come from a thing. A thing cannot offer gifts of favor. Only a someone can. Hence, there is a Blessings Giver.
I believe logic is a device used to think something through. Emotions cannot think anything through. Emotions are fickle and blow with the wind. They come and go. Logic is based on discovering fact and acknowledging the fact. Fact is fact. It is not what we hope would be, could be, or should be. Logic is based on fact; therefore, is truth.
Blessings have to come from somewhere. Again, somewhere does not have the ability to give or show favor. So, it only stands to reason that there is a Blessings Giver.
This is just my little humble opinion. Based on reason, logic, and fact.
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4 BLESSINGS AND THE BIBLE: COLOSSIANS 4:2 (NLT)
Written 2014-11-30 13:25:34, Sunday
THE BLESSINGS GIVER
I am a Christian and am a woman of prayer and blessings counting. I know the Blessings Giver. He is God. He is my Lord and Savior, Friend, Way, Truth, Life, Teacher, Father, and Rock. He is my sure foundation and strength.
I know blessings come from Him and from Him alone, not from self, not from things, not from activities, not from anyone but from Him. He is the Blessings Giver. He is the only who can show me true favor. He is the only one who can offer me heaven and eternal life and forgiveness for all of my mistakes and boneheaded moves.
I DO NOT DESERVE ONE BLESSING
Blessings are that much more special because I do not deserve one of them. Not one. As a matter of fact, I deserve death (Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23)--not blessing.
I have done absolutely nothing to deserve them, but He loves me enough, and is full of grace, so He shows me His favor, gives me mercy and grace, and shows me His glory with every blessing. With each blessing, He allows me to see Him.
BLESSING IS GRACE
Every blessing is grace given to me by God.
Every blessing is God speaking to me and showing Himself to me.
This is why I do not want to ever forget a blessing.
This is why I do not want to ever fail to see a blessing and miss a blessing.
This is why I do not want to ever take one blessing for granted or overlook one.
A BLESSING IS SACRED
A blessing is something given to me by the Blessings Giver, by God, not by sheer will or determination, not by accident, not from chaos, not because I deserve it (since I do not).
A blessing is given by God.
God is holy, holy, holy. So, a blessing is holy. It is set apart and is sacred.
To ever look at a blessing as something small, something not good enough, something not deserving of acknowledgment is show my absolute foolishness and ignorance. And, I do not want to be a fool or ignorant. A blessing is given to me by a sacred God. So, a blessing is sacred and deserves respect.
How do I show a blessing respect? It is by giving respect to the Blessing Giver. How this is done is through looking for each and every blessing, acknowledging them and counting them, putting them on my Blessings Counted List, remembering them, reviewing them, sharing them with others, and thanking the Blessings Giver for them. This is how a blessing is best lived. It is through acknowledging how important and sacred each blessing is.
A blessing is sacred. It is walking on sacred ground every time I receive a blessing and acknowledge where it comes from, giving thanks, and remembering it. This is a sacred act. It is a sacred act of worship of the Blessings Giver.
A blessing must be taken as sacred and treated as sacred--nothing less.
THE BIBLE AND THANKFULNESS
I have studied the Bible and what it says about blessings, thanks, thanksgiving, gratitude, etc. And, I have noticed how interrelated blessings (thanksgiving and gratitude), prayer, and praise are. Most verses that talk about one talk about the other.
For example:
Colossians 4:2 New Living Translation (NLT)
2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Prayer, focus, and thanksgiving go hand-in-hand and are commands give to us by God in His Word, the Holy Bible.
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5 A LIFE OF GRATITUDE OR INGRATITUDE
Written 2014-11-30 14:11:03, Sunday
There are only two ways to live: a life of gratitude or a life of ingratitude.
Seriously. If you are not thankful for what and who you have, then what are you? If you are not living with a heart of gratitude, then how are you living? You are then living a life of ingratitude.
It really is this simple.
I will not hesitate to admit that living a life of ingratitude is sure easy to do. It does not require any additional effort on my part. All I have to do is live.
Living a life of gratitude, counting my blessings, and being thankful requires work on my part. It requires discipline, focus, intentionality, and writing each blessing on the page. It is not something that comes easy. It also requires time. It requires all of me in order to live a life of gratitude.
Ingratitude is far easier to do and live. At face value. What we tend to forget or overlook is how the cost of ingratitude is steep. It costs us a great deal to not be grateful.
When we live a life of ingratitude, we always want more. What we have now is enver enough. So, we continually seek for more and are never satisfied when we get the more. We get the more and we only want more from there.
Livign a life of ingratitude means we are miserable and are always busy seeking more, wanting more, only to be left unsatisfied.
What kind of life do you want to live? You are living one or the other. So, are you living a life of gratitude or ingratitude?
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