Blessings

Several times today the word "blessings" came to mind.  My husband thanked God for the many blessings given us each day.  It came to mind later in the morning as I pondered the 29 years of marriage we've enjoyed filled with many blessings -- our children, grandchildren, a great-grandchild -- to mention just a few of our favorite blessings.  And then this afternoon as I looked beyond the walls of home to the beautiful summer day filled with sunlight, blue skies, the colors of flowers, the hint of ripening tomatoes.

Then I listened to the evening news filled once again with a suicide bombing in Iraq as our troops pack up and leave for home.  Once again, I thought about blessings.  They are innumerable, past my ability to count.  In our country of freedom and liberty, we are blessed every moment that we live out our dreams, plan our futures, help our children to grow and learn, watch our grandchildren being born, thinking of what the future holds for them.

We can shop at will, where we want to and spend hard-earned money.  If we want to eat out, we can without fear of reprisal or danger.  If we want to send our daughters to school along with our sons, we can.  No one tells us what to read, what news station to watch, what borders we can or cannot cross.  We are blessed with so, and we take so much for granted. 

Pause to think what blessings have come your way today . . . then pause to say thanks and to remember those whose day wasn't blessed at all.