You ever had a week where you spend more time thinking that you just have too much bad luck coming your way?
Seems like no matter what you do, you can’t get ahead and for every step forward, you are two steps farther behind.
And then if that wasn’t enough, life doesn’t seem very fair, because too many times, the good guys don’t make as much head way as the bad ones.
There are three ways to look at this situation, best I can tell.
The first one, well you could spend some time figuring out what sins you committed and if there are a lot of them, you might realize that maybe the bad guy isn’t doing so well after all. Reckoning our sins is not a particularly popular activity anymore, mainly because when you do it right, it’s painful. There are way more things we do in a week, that we would just as soon not admit to, especially if you have to count things like yelling at the driver next to you, enmity, strife, selfishness, grudge holding, little white lies, and cussing. I bring up cussing because I love to do that and most of the time I pretend its okay that I do it – unfortunately there might be similar reasons for some other items in the list.
The second way to deal with a very bad week is to feel sorry for yourself. Like the character in Lil’ Abner who always had the cloud over his head, you could carry the burden of the world’s biggest jinx on your shoulders. This one makes me tired to even think about it, so I have to wonder why I have been doing it some.
The third one, you know of course, is going to be the best choice, right? I can hear my mother telling me as a little bitty girl, carrying on about the injustices of my world, and with little sympathy as far as I could tell, “Janet, count your blessings’. (I liked hearing that about as much as when she told me to stop bringing my bad attitude with me, which unforuantely, she still has reason to remind me). The curiosity about all three solutions is that they have one thing in common, they are about attitude.
As my Jake would say, this little song may seem silly, its an old one, but it says something very important, when you think about it
It’s especially valuable when you do it.
Happy Monday yall.
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.
Refrain
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
Refrain
So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
Johnson Oatman, Jr. (1856-1922)
Words: Johnson Oatman, Jr., in Songs for Young People, by Edwin Excell (Chicago, Illinois: 1897).
