Counting Your Blessings

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 1Peter 4:10

An excerpt from the upcoming book "Sailing with God" by Sheila Wilkins

We love to run the beach. Our bare feet slap in time upon the wet sand as the waves reach up to encase our legs in their cooling embrace. As we run I keep a close watch for God’s special gifts, conch shells. At Cape Lookout there aren’t many people, only a few sailors and fishermen, since there are very few people, there are a lot of wonderful shells. There are miles of sandy beach, which are virtually untouched. As the waves roll in the shells roll out.

As I run I carry a mesh shelling bag. I stop at each perfect conch shell I see. The conch shells are usually bigger than my hand and weigh a couple of pounds each. Delighted with the prized bounty in my hands I continue to run. I stop each time I see a large shell, and inspect it for holes. Usually the shell ends up in my arms. Again and again I stop to pick up another shell, and another and another… Running with a conch in both hands is like running with small pound weights, two conch shells are easy to manage, but two soon becomes three and then four and soon my bag is very heavy and awkward. Each time I stop I have to juggle the increasing weight of the shell bag. The distance between my husband and I increases, and running becomes more difficult. The weight quickly adds up, five pounds, ten pounds, sometimes more.

Rick shakes his head and wonders why I carry such burdens with me as I try to run. He encourages me to leave them behind, hide them or wait until our return trip when we will be walking and the distance would be cut in half. I simply smile and hold onto my beloved load a little tighter. Not only do those beautiful conch shells grow heavy but they poke into my side if I try to carry them like a football. If I carry them in both hands in front of me they tend to slosh around in the bag, slipping and clanging against each other. Still I am happy with my load, for I know if I were to ignore the beautiful shells and run past them intent on picking them up on our return walk, they would be gone, stolen by a wave and tossed back into the sea, or picked up by some other beach comber who would be all to happy to take home the proffered treasure. So I stop and pick up, and stop and pick up. To me they are blessings, God’s artwork. Not picking them up would be unthinkable. So as I run, I uncomfortably juggle the growing amount of shells.

In our lives roll in many blessings; home, spouse, children, friends, churches and jobs. All these blessings are God’s special work of art, gifts for us to cherish and marvel at. As we run the race of life, we often stop and acquire more and more blessings, until at times our blessings seem like a lot of work and may even become burdensome. How often and easily we become exhausted by our blessings of children and work. The divorce rate, dysfunctional families and children in crisis reflect the reality that what was once a happy joyous blessing has become a burden or something to discard and throw away. Marriages are always joyful celebrations, yet in over 50% of marriages a judge declares the marriage ended. How often do we become irritated with our beloved spouses? What happened to that wonderful blessing, the hopes and dreams of a young bride and groom? It was cast back into the sea, discarded and unwanted. The same is true of children. There is nothing as wonderful as the birth of a child. Yet a few years later that same child can be neglected, abused and family bonds shattered. Once again children which are welcomed as wonderful blessings tragically may be discarded like an unwanted shell and thrown back into the sea.

If we feel the burden of life weighing upon us we should stand back a moment and ask ourselves which blessings would we truly cast back into the waves? Which blessing would we tell God to take back that we don’t want it anymore? There are many times in a family life where all is not pretty and perfect. Tempers may run short, money can run even shorter bringing on incredible stress. But where would we be without our families? They are both a blessing and burden – no matter how irritated we may become, how can we give them back to God and tell Him we don’t want them anymore? God forbid! And what about the job which exhausts us? It would be nice to not have to work – but if we gave God back the job and said – "I don’t want this anymore" – then what? Which blessing would we give back to God and say, “I don’t want to carry this blessing anymore – it is tiresome." There are too many responsibilities that go along with the blessings you have given me.”

We have free choice. We can ignore the gifts God has placed at our feet. We can toss the gifts back at Him and say, “Not good enough.” Or we can simply step back and watch someone else pick up the blessing and cherish it, instead of us. It truly is our choice. If we take the time to marvel at the beautiful blessings God has richly provided, the burden of their weight will become a joy.

May each of us take time to look and wonder at the beauty of God’s blessings and may we always cherish each of them as gifts tailor made for us. They are our treasures, our perfect works of art given to us by a loving Heavenly Father. He will give us the strength to carry our blessings. So as we run the race of life, may we run with our arms happily, embracing the treasures God has freely given. When the race is run and our task completed, may we be found faithful in our race and may we not have lost even one of the precious charges He has given into our keeping.

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