More from Our Ladies Meeting

Nope – it’s not a case of measles.  It’s part of last Tuesday night’s lesson from our Ladies Meeting.  Well, a reasonable facsimile of the sheet our speaker created as we named our blessings.

As we called out the things we saw as blessings in our lives, she drew a red dot.  Family, husband, (no wives – this is a Ladies Meeting!) children, friends, pastor, church, homes, jobs – the list of blessings grew and grew until there were red dots all over the place and people were still making the list longer.  We were way past the few we would have listed alone.

I thought of the hymn “Count Your Blessings”, which tied in with Spafford’s sea billows, too:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Refrain
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

But that really wasn’t the focus of this point in the presentation.  That came when our speaker added one circle:


Can’t miss it, can you.  It’s overwhelming.  It’s larger than the blessings, one by one.  Our eyes are drawn to it on paper, just as they are in our lives.  Those billowing seas that overcome the good in our lives.  Like a magnet they draw our eyes, our thoughts, our attention – away from the blessings we enjoy.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. (Matthew 14:28-30 KJV)

When Peter heard the word Come, he knew it was Jesus and stepped out in faith.  Instead of keeping his focus on the Lord, he saw the wind boisterous, feared and sank. 

Don’t say in your mind what Peter should have done – confirm what we should do.  We know because we have Peter as our example.  He didn’t let those boisterous waves overwhelm him.  He cried for help, “Lord, save me.”  That same response is available to all of us.

Oh, by the way, it is a joyous thing to truly count your blessings.  Our speaker keeps a small wire-bound set of cards and writes three of her blessings for each morning, noon and night, non-repeating.  By that we mean she can’t say each time that her husband is a blessing, but she can list different blessings from her husband.
Can you list three specific blessings?  Not just people, but what they do?