Dear Friends
Abraham Lincoln was right when he said, “If we magnify our blessings
as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.” Too often
we fail to acknowledge what we have because we're so concerned about what we
want. As a result, we fail to give real thanks for the many blessings for which
we did nothing: our life itself, the flowers, the trees, our family and
friends.
Yesterday as I drove home after making a visit to a member of our
church, I found myself doing a little ‘blessing magnification’ and one of the
things my blessing list included was the many wonderful friends I have enjoyed
over my years of ministry,
I thought back to this summer when I received a call from a friend
who wanted to know how I liked my car. At the time I was driving a 2004 Honda
that I had bought from a pastor friend of mine. I loved my little “Blue
Beauty’ as a friend of mine called it, but of late it had been costing me
substantial amounts of money for repairs.
On the phone my friend inquired about my car. He told me he had a
friend who needed an inexpensive used car, and since he had been looking at
used Hondas for his friend, he wondered what I thought about my car. I told him
I was happy with it, and I would recommend it to anyone who might be interested
in an inexpensive used car.
A few months later after I had returned home from vacation, I got
a follow up call from my friend inviting me to lunch at a wonderful
Thai restaurant he had discovered some 30 miles away.
He and another friend picked me up for lunch, and on our way to
the restaurant, my friend asked if I minded stopping at a used car dealer that
was on the way because this dealer had one of the used cars he had been looking
at for his friend. He said, he just wanted to personally check it out. I said
fine, and as we pulled into the lot, he pointed it out, and he asked me what I
thought of it. Now I know absolutely nothing about cars, and so all I
remembered saying was that I liked the color and thought it looked almost brand
new
As he got out of the car, he asked me again, “How do you like it.”
And I asked, “How come how come you keep asking one who knows so little about
cars how I liked it.” And he smiled and said, “Tom, it’s your car!
You can’t imagine my surprise to discover that ten brothers in our
church had gotten together to purchase the car for me. Now I like surprises,
but this surprise went well beyond any surprise I had ever experienced. I wish
you could have seen Jean’s face as I proudly pulled into our driveway in a late
model Hyundai Santa Fe. Now late model is a little bit of an exaggeration for
2012 is ‘late model’ compared to my 2004 Honda.
So, as I drove home last night from a trip to South Jersey with
Sirius XM blasting out some classic country music, I thought to myself how
lucky I am to have such wonderful friends.
And as I drove on the Garden State, I was suddenly reminded of the
devotional I had just read earlier in the morning. I quote Robert Emmons,
a professor at the University of California, Davis who said, “Savor surprises.
Try to record events that were unexpected or surprising, as these tend to
elicit stronger levels of gratitude.” (quoted from Clint Hurdle’s Daily
Encouragement e-mail)
The article went on to state that the greatest psychological
rewards come from keeping a mental record of your blessings.
In closing the article, the author suggests one way of stimulating
gratitude is to reflect on what your life would be like without certain
blessings, rather than just tallying up all those good things.
Good advice. Maybe all of us might be a lot happier and more
satisfied with our lives if we kept score of the many blessings God has
bestowed upon us.
I am reminded that “a grateful thought toward heaven is of itself
a prayer.” “And how happy a person is depends upon the depth of his gratitude.”
Enough said! Make it a great and grateful day, my friends.
Yours in faith and friendship,
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