Good morning faculty, fellow students, friends, family, and alumni. In case you haven’t figured it out, today’s message is of blessings. What exactly is a blessing? Well, one might first think of a blessing as a verb. To sanctify as holy or to request God to bestow good upon something, such as Bless this chapel. If we think of a blessing in its noun form, one might think of something that brings joy or happiness to one’s life. These could be the obvious things such as family and friends, making money, and even getting an A on that vertebrate physiology test. While these are indeed blessings, I believe that it is important to see the deeper meaning of blessings. In the reading from Ephesians, Paul speaks of the spiritual blessings that come of our relationship with God. “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” To know that God chose US is pretty awesome and is perhaps one of the greatest blessings. Or what about, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” There are so many blessings in that one thought – forgiveness of sins through Jesus’ crucifixion, God’s grace, wisdom, and understanding. It is definitely a blessing to know that as Christians we are saved and can look forward to an eternity in heaven. When we think of other blessings from God, we could probably go on all day. Peace, love, patience, hope, faith, healing, strength, knowledge, service, miracles, the ability to learn, to see, to hear, to listen, to feel, having shelter and clothing, sunshine, nature. The list is never ending.

 

So, if blessings are so easily recognized, why does it seem that we sometimes take them for granted? I mean, how often do we quickly walk to class without taking a moment to enjoy our surroundings? When we are discouraged, as in the hymn today, how often do we count our blessings and try to see the positive in things? It seems that our society today is often going, going, going. People forget to take the time to count the blessings. And when we face trials and tribulations, this only seems to get worse. As Dr. Richard Carlson states in his book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, “Whenever we’re dealing with bad news, a difficult person, or a disappointment of some kind, most of us get into certain habits, ways of reacting to life – particularly adversity – that don’t serve us very well. We often rush around looking busy, trying to solve problems, but in reality, we are often compounding them. Because everything seems like such a big deal, we end up spending our lives dealing with one drama after another.” So, how do we quit getting so caught up in the drama? Well, we can’t simply ignore our problems and hard times, and well, they aren’t going to just disappear. Life is difficult and there will always be challenges to overcome. I believe the perfect way to get past these difficult times is to, you guessed it, count your blessings! There really is a blessing in every situation. For instance, you have three tests coming up in the next week all on the same day. You spend all week preparing and studying and you miss out on the football game, going out to dinner with your friends, and you even miss Grey’s Anatomy. At this point, you may be so frustrated and begin thinking that nothing is going to go right this semester. And then, the night before your tests, you realize what good will come out of cramming so hard. Not only do realize that your hard work will pay off and that you have learned a lot, but you also remember that now you won’t have to study for any tests the next week! 

 

It’s also so much easier to find the blessings in every day events when you do as Dr. Richard Carlson says, and “Remember that everything has God’s fingerprints on it.” Just like earlier when I listed many blessings from God, Carlson says “When our life is filled with the desire to see the holiness in everyday things, something magical begins to happen. A feeling of peace emerges.” And we realize we are truly blessed to have all that we do.

 

One particular event in my life helped me understand this idea. I went to a funeral for an elderly family friend after my freshmen year at Bethany. I was expecting the usual funeral – a few readings of being with God after our time here on Earth, a brief eulogy and remarks about what an inspirational person she was, and an appropriate hymn about finding peace. I was very surprised, however, when the hymn was that which we sang today, Count Your Blessings. We were told that this was one of her favorites and that she had requested it be played at her funeral. I thought what a wonderful approach to life. We should all be thinking this way. Since that moment, Count Your Blessings has become sort of a life motto for me. If you ask my friends, they will tell you the same. You can’t tell me that after singing that hymn, your heart wasn’t a little lighter and you didn’t feel a little better about yourself and your life. I think there is so much meaning behind those three little words. I have already mentioned various blessings, and the reminder to “count” your blessings has a pretty powerful purpose. It compels us to begin thinking of everything in our life that is indeed a blessing.

 

Ok, so what happens after we begin to recognize and count our blessings? Is that where it ends? No, of course not. It is especially important to give thanks to God for the many blessings in our lives. In the second reading today from Luke, Jesus heals ten men with leprosy and only one returns to give praise to God. I believe there is a valuable lesson to be learned from this story. God has blessed us in so many ways. He continues to bless us in ways that we may never even know. It is only right that we give God thanks and praise for His blessings. This is something that we should be doing every minute of every day. As a friend of mine once said, when we walk outside and see how beautiful and perfect that day is, we realize we should be giving God thanks. Everything on this Earth is because of Him. WE are here because of Him. If you think of everything He has given us, everything he has blessed us with, saying a prayer of thanksgiving is the least we could do. 

 

Bill Hybels speaks of a pattern for prayer in his book, Too Busy Not to Pray. All you have to remember is ACTS. That is, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. When offering a prayer of thanksgiving, Hybels speaks of four types of blessings - answered prayers, spiritual blessings, relational blessings and material blessings. Every blessing God has given us falls into one of these categories. “By the time you go through each category,” Hybels says, “you’re ready to go back to adoration for all God has done for you.” I think that praying in such a manner helps us put perspective on things and actually brings more meaning and greater understanding to our prayers. It also helps us to develop a more personal and authentic relationship with God. In quoting Kierkegaard, “Prayer doesn’t change God, but it changes him who prays.”

 

In leaving today, I hope you have a new outlook on life and that you always remember to “Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”