If only we could have instant peace in times of trouble! Instead, our stomach muscles tighten, and our blood pressure goes up. We get a panicky feeling and our mind reels as we wonder what to do.

    When the initial shock has worn off, then our mind starts to go around in circles. Peace seems further away than ever. But there is one way to settle one’s mind, and that is to concentrate on the blessings we still have. It could always have been worse, and we are not the only ones to suffer. If we count our blessings and concentrate on  what we have rather than on what we don’t have makes all the difference. To be able to thank God that things are no worse lifts our spirits out of ourselves and we reach a higher plane than just feeling sorry for ourselves!

   One lady in our group said the other day that she is making it a habit to always think of ten blessings that are waiting for her each  new day. The first one she said was to thank God for the blessing of being able to hear. To wake up each morning and be able to hear the birds chirping was one of the first blessings she thought of every morning.

    This really challenged me as I thought of how we had been complaining about the interminable cooing of the doves around our house. We thought it was such a monotonous sound, always the same tones with no variation at all. But what if we couldn’t hear them at all? That WOULD be a matter of concern! So I started to listen with a fresh vision of thankfulness rather than one of complaining.

   There are so many other things that we can be thankful for too….so let’s cultivate the habit of thankfulness, rather than one of complaints!!