I count things. I don’t
do it on purpose… Well, sometimes I do.
But many times (too many times to count) I find myself counting things.
Fifteen stairs make up the staircase in our house.
There are 22 stairs between the classroom level and the
office level of the Bible college.
I recently counted ten blooming and brilliant yellow trees
visible from my office window. At the
same time, I noticed twelve birds sitting on an electric wire.
Quite often, on my trips downtown to the Bible college, I
notice career dog walkers and I quickly count how many dogs they have on
leashes. The highest for one person was
nine. One time I saw two walkers, and
they had at least twelve between the two of them.
The ascent from the city of Medellin (down in a valley) up
to the airport is quite a journey, and I’m always amazed at the people who bike
up this windy road. One Sunday, on our
way to preach at a church near the airport, I decided to count how many bikers
we passed. I stopped at 100… not because
I couldn’t count any higher, but because I’d proven a point to myself – there were
a lot!
When I’m bored or can’t sleep, I find myself not counting
sheep, but counting rhythms with my fingers.
Not just counting to make sure I have ten, but counting to an unheard
beat. One, two three,… four, five, six,… You get the point!
But one thing I have been unable to successfully count –
even past 100 – are God’s blessings!
Years ago, I purchased a book at a little shop in the Amana
Colonies (in Iowa), entitled, “14,000 things to be happy about.”, by Barbara
Ann Kipper. I must confess – I’ve never
read her entire list. But I dare say I could
come up with more things to be happy about… things I’m blessed with. Because I’ve been blessed beyond count…
beyond measure!
One of my favorite songs these days is “10,000 Reasons,” by
Matt Redman. The song challenges me to
find 10,000 reasons why I should (and can) sing praises to and bless the Lord!
November and December seem to be our months of “thanks-giving.” But we don’t have to wait until then! Right now, we can begin to count all of God’s
blessings in our lives! If we make a
list of 25-30 different blessings each day, we’ll have our list of 10,000 in
one year! (I also love math, but that’s
the subject for a future blog…..)
Signing off... I have some counting to do!
Image courtesy
of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
