Simply Blessed

As I sit here on the couch, my heart is overflowing with the realization of how blessed I am. I am first and foremost blessed to be called a child of God - to know that I was called out and claimed before the foundations of the earth were laid is more than I can comprehend. I am ridiculously blessed to call Nathan my husband. I am sitting here watching him play the guitar and I cannot imagine a better way to spend a Sunday night. I am blessed to have an hour with my mom today to share a cup of coffee in the middle of summer chaos. I am blessed to have a family that loves me regardless of what I do, where I live or how grumpy I am. I have six amazing siblings who have shaped and formed my view of the world for the last 23 years, whether or not they know it. I am blessed to have friends who I can be real and honest with - friends who have seen me at my highest and seen me at my lowest and yet still choose to love me. I am blessed to be a part of a church community that even though we have only been going a few weeks they already recognize us and know our names. I am blessed to have a job where I am challenged on a daily basis and where I receive a pay check every two weeks when so many people are struggling to make ends meet right now.

It's good to take a step back and realize the ways that the Lord has blessed each and every one of us. The world is a scary place, especially right now. Sometimes I struggle to find the good in a long work day, I take my eyes off the goal and sulk around in the sludge of life. I read the news and think that nothing good can come of the war in Iraq, the nuclear talks with Iran, and the faltering (if not failing) economy in the United States. I look around me and I see a hurting and dying world that is crying out for more - even if they don't know it. I see young girls crying out for the attention of their fathers only to find blank faces staring at a small Black Berry screen. I see young boys trying to prove their self worth in the world, only to be met with the judgment that they are not good enough til they have made their first million.

I look at all these things and it is so easy to get caught in the muck of it all. So it's good to take a step back and realize the things that I am blessed to partake in, even if I can't see the blessing of it at times.

At the end of the day, I come back to the praise that the psalmist sings to the Lord, "Because Your lovingkindness is BETTER THAN LIFE, my lips will praise You." Psalm 63:3. Because Your love is better than life. Not because I have a good job, or good friends, or the right clothes, or the right pants size. No, because Your love is better than the last breath I took, because Your love is better than anything I can experience this side of Heaven, my lips will praise You.

Now that is being blessed, my friends.