GOD BLESSES ME. Why?
It happens over and over, again and again. I try not to take my blessings for granted. But have you ever thought about it? Have you counted yours lately? I thought about how grateful I am for little things. The ability to breathe.
I've had congested sinuses for a solid 4 months now. This past week my nose unplugged for the first time in many months and stayed open for three whole days. I found myself praising God as I was able to sleep without waking to a desert-dry mouth. I truly appreciate that phenomena since today my nose is back to non-stop running and fully blocked.
Today my husband felt fairly well. He wasn't in much pain. He was able to walk around the mall one time.
Today I dead-headed my purple mums so they'd bloom again in the fall. ~~a blessing to come~~ A reward for being a faithful gardener to my flowers--God's creation. As I sat clipping hundreds of dried and dying blossoms, three tiny orange butterflies flitted about in the bed of blooms. A honeybee landed in the middle of a mum and sat there a while, collecting his bounty to carry back to his hive--his reward for faithful service as a bee.
I thought about those rewards--those blessings. We go about our daily routine, doing what we do and most times we rarely think of the reward we receive for our efforts. We think even less about the rewards we receive because of others' efforts. We run water from our faucets without once considering the efforts of those who run the water company, work in the purification plants. We put on clothes without once thinking of who washed that blouse, ironed that pair of slacks. We gather our cucumbers, squash and tomatoes and think how grand we are for all the hard work we put into the success of harvesting. Do we give God His due praise for the sunshine, the rain, the soil, the seed?
"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven." Luke 6:23.
Reward in heaven.
Do we ever consider that? Each and every thing we do on this earth brings about consequence or reward. We don't work--we don't eat. We share our faith--people come to Jesus. We give; we receive. We hoard; we live in want. We render mercy; we receive mercy. We accept criticism, man's hatred, exclusion, reviling, and accusations for our Master's sake and we are promised great reward in heaven.
When our Master returns with His angels, "He will reward each according to his works." Matthew 16:27 When our thoughts, and purpose is being faithful to our Lord, then we "will have treasure in heaven." Mt. 19:21.
There is a prize for running the race...for persevering to the end. And the amazing thing about God, is that He rewards even before we get to Heaven. "Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father." We must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time the Lord will reward us. While that is not my motivating force for doing good, it's amazing to know that God seeks to reward me anyway.
HOW GREAT IS MY GOD! How blessed I am to know Him. How privileged I am to call Him Father. selahV
[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007]
