Blessings

John 1:16
From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.


The other night I made some chocolate chip cookies, my daughter’s favorite. I originally told her she could have only one, but when asked so sweetly, I gave in and gave her another as we read her bedtime stories. As we finished her stories, and prepared to say our bedtime prayers, she declared that she wanted another cookie, to which I responded, "No, you’ve already had two." This, of course, led to tears and pouting, and much opposition. I tried to explain to her that she needed to just be thankful that she got two (since I was only going to give her one), instead of pouting about the one cookie she didn’t get. She really didn’t understand, so I just had to tell her that I give her cookies because they make her happy and that makes me happy. If she wasn’t going to be happy about her cookies, then I wouldn’t make them anymore. This made her change her tone pretty quickly, and it got me thinking.

How often do we sit and pout and complain about the blessing we didn’t receive, instead of being thankful for the ones we did? How often do we sit and think and pray about the blessing yet-to-come, instead of looking around us and seeing what we already have, knowing that we don’t deserve any of it?

It seems that as we grow in our Christian faith we begin to think that we deserve blessings from God, that they are our right, as His children. We forget how unworthy we are even to receive salvation and life, let alone all the other blessings He pours out on us. We neglect to remember that blessings are added, extra-special little gifts that God delights to give us, because they make us happy. They are not something we are entitled to, although, we are guaranteed that we will get them - it’s part of being His child. After-all, what parent doesn’t like to give their child extra-special little gifts, now and then?

Let’s take some time today and just look at our lives and be thankful for each and every blessing God has already given us. Let’s thank Him, and reflect on the fact that none of this is anything we have earned, or deserve, but these blessings are simply little gifts from a Father to His child who delights in His love.