I Count My Blessings…

As I write these words, people and families in various parts of the town I call home are being evacuated from their residences due to flooding or the imminent threat of flooding. Rivers and streams and gulleys are over their banks across the region. Lakes and reservoirs that had been at the point of going dry due to years of drought are running over their spillways or are within a few feet of doing so. Streets and highways and bridges are closed because they’re inundated with water.

I count my blessings.

I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food on my table and the love of God and family. Nothing else is important. We human beings complain about the smallest things and tend to ignore the big picture. We lust after the material world and forget about the simple things. We focus on “me, me, me” and shove the needs of others to the back of our minds.

I count my blessings.

I gripe that I can’t wander in my garden because the ground is too muddy….while a foot of water covers some back yards in my town. I get irritated when my husband comes in out of the rain and drips water all over the kitchen floor….while some folks will have several feet of water inside their homes within the next day or two as rivers rise. I groan when all the television stations are knocked off the air due to lightening or heavy rain….while others will be without the conveniences of home for days or weeks as their property and possessions dry out.

I count my blessings.

The truly important things in life can disappear in a heartbeat. We should never take them for granted.

Psalm 46 says: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. (Psalms 46:1-3, KJV)

Please keep in your thoughts and prayers all of the people who are suffering due to flooding or tornadoes, not just in my North Texas town, but in the entire state of Texas, in Oklahoma and in other areas of the U. S. being afflicted by severe weather.