Be still and count yours!

"I'm dead bored with my job! I'm sick and tired of the piles of paper works and projects on my desk everyday! Can't I just have a little break?"

We often hear these complains, and we do complain, too. There is always something we complain of everyday and the resentments never cease. It looks like there was never a day we did not complain about anything.

But have we ever pondered why these things happen? Have we ever mulled over these events and perhaps considered their importance in our lives?

When we complained that long office hours hinder our social life, did we ever think of the man on the street who has been bumming around because he has been jobless for years?

When our temper rose to our heads because of the heavy traffic, did we ever think of the thousands of people whose feet have swollen because they have to walk to all their destinations as they live in an area not accessible to any form of transportation?

When we looked at the mirror one morning and was disgusted with a few gray hair showing, did we ever think of the cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy who wished she had hair to comb?

Many of us have ostensibly been transformed by modern life into "human robots" who are all physical - without emotions and spirits. We take everyday as a survival competition, and we consider mere surviving as a feat.

We no longer have the emotions to appreciate blessings we receive because "blessings" for some have been reduced to amassing material fortune and fame. We sometimes become unmindful of the Lord's blessings disguised as "ordinary" things, because we only acknowledge those that we can physically "count".

Let us not be like the man who once cried out in despair "Touch me God and let me know you are here", but when God reached upon him, the man brushed the beautiful butterfly and walked away.

Let us not not miss out on the blessings we receive simply because they are not packaged the way we expect them to be.

A modest "hello" from someone you have not been with for years, is a blessing in itself - he must have told you that in the midst of a very urgent and demanding project. If a friend stopped you from posting an article in your blog, don't mistake it as curtailment of your right - it is indeed a blessing for it may save both of you from a lifetime of ridicule.

Take notice of the blessings around you, name them one by one and you will be surprised what God has done for you!

And as you count your blessings, ask yourself "Have I been a blessing to the people around me?"