Basking in Blessings

Today my family will celebrate the 6^th birthday of my son, Benaiah. Diagnosed with a terminal condition in utero, we were told he might not survive the pregnancy and would certainly not live to see his first birthday. Now a happy, healthy boy, my son has a remarkable story and days like today are a vivid reminder of God’s tremendous blessing in my life. These milestones trigger my mind to look back and dwell on those blessings.

That being said, I can also get so caught up the stress and strain of the here-and-now that I forget about the miracles in my life. As a parent, I can allow myself to get frustrated with Ben and neglect to focus on the blessing he is to me and my family. I get distracted from how truly wonderful my life is because of passing trials or even mere inconveniences.

This can happen with any major blessing in life. The job you once worked so hard to get is now taken for granted. The person who is the love of your life isn’t cherished the way he or she should be. The friend you’ve had since childhood, the one who’s been beside you through thick and thin, you never see anymore because you’ve become so busy.

The things that were once so precious seem to have lost their luster. Think back to when the iPhone first came out and we could hold a computer in our hands, play music, make calls, text friends and even take pictures. Now we get upset when an email takes five seconds to load. What was once amazing is now expected. If we aren’t careful, when the novelty of the blessings in our lives wear off, we can miss how precious they truly are. The miracles become mundane. Blessings become boring. The stunning is now stale.

Make a point to look back at the miracles in your life. Relive and recapture the blessings you’ve experienced. Don’t let their luster fade.

Comments

Toxic Humility

We have all seen false humility: the guy who tries to hide his arrogance with feigned modesty. It’s usually pretty obvious and always obnoxious. But there is also another variation of false humility out there: toxic humility. This is often displayed in self-deprecating talk and a lack of self-confidence, belittling or undermining one’s own talents and abilities. The danger in this kind of behavior is twofold: it is too often accepted as true humility and like a virus, it spreads doubt and disbelief. To clarify, it is not that the bearer of this toxic humility isn’t honest about his view of himself. That is the very issue: he absolutely believes he has little value or utility. He thinks downplaying his own worth is humility but I disagree. CS Lewis said it best when he wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking about yourself less.” His point being, true humility is not an ever-present raincloud of self-doubt that follows you around. It’s a focus on

Commitment

You know what the problem is with a lot of goals and grand plans? They are mostly fueled by emotion rather than commitment. It is why most New Year’s Resolutions are long forgotten by now and many aspirations quietly fizzle out over time. True commitment is sticking with the effort even – if and especially when – the emotion has diminished or disappeared. Emotion can be a great initiator of action, like kindling on a fire, but it lacks staying power. Commitment is the logs that keep the fire burning long after the kindling is consumed. The butterflies after falling in love, the best intentions of waking up at 4:30am every day to work out after you join a new gym, the excitement of your first day on campus, even the sleep-deprivation induced euphoria of a new baby: all kindling. But it is commitment that keeps you working hard on the marriage twenty-three years after “I do.” It is what causes you to keep going when you do not want to make one more sales call, do one more presentat

Glutton for Punishment

I’ve learned over the years that being comfortable can be a dangerous thing. I try to find paths to discomfort to push me out of my realm of “safety.” However, I have noticed my ability to develop comfort zones amidst discomfort. I’ve found ways to be comfortable in uncomfortable circumstances. I wonder, do I need to be stretched beyond those areas as well? One of the areas in which I have adapted to the discomfort is the gym. I don’t go to the gym to exercise, to get stronger or even to be healthier. It’s grown beyond that. Now, I go to the gym to clear my head by testing my will and resolve. I do it to see how hard I can push my limits and I strive to outwork everyone else there. I may not be the strongest, the fastest or the fittest. I may not lift the most weight or even do the most reps – I can’t control any of those variables – but I can control my effort. So one of my goals for each workout is to unleash more effort than anyone else at the gym. But along with this

Mindset Matters

Search This Blog