“Count your blessings.” I’m sure at some point we have heard this saying from a friend or a family member or even saw it on a greeting card or a banner somewhere during your travels. My own experience recently was coming out of a church at St Maximilian Kolbe as I went back to my car to continue going about my day. I never thought about it after in a deeper way but as I caught a moment or finished my day it gave me an opportunity to think about it more. Am I grateful for that chance opportunity to be with God for almost an hour to do adoration since my job allows me to have that break in between? Am I grateful for the peace that I felt as soon as I stepped in and stepped out of the church? Reflections in random moments always gives us a chance to relinquish the small blessings we encounter. Sometimes -well, most times we forget the little things in the busyness of our lives but that is to our own doing because we can always be intentional and start our day with a prayer. Everything follows. It always does.
I remember back in the day during my years in grade school when I used to live in the Philippines, my parents always reminded me and my siblings to say our prayers and thank God for what we have. As I grew up to become a teenager, I started to become too occupied with silly teenage girl things and praying was not in the forefront of my mind but only during Sunday masses and weekly rosaries at home and Santo Nino pilgrimages in my neighborhood going door to door from one house to another. Now, fast forward in my 40’s I have come to realize that only three things do matter. First, God followed by family and lastly, country. My husband, Ioan gave me this perfect reminder during the time that this conversation has occurred.
All these blessings namely, that God created me in his image and likeness and that should be something that needs to be celebrated, second of all God gave me a beautiful family- a loving, kind and God-fearing husband who would go through hell and back for me and lastly a country that is sadly, currently divided but that we should uphold and be proud of.
People always say that life is so hard and difficult and it is fairly easy to forget to be thankful every day. From the moment we wake up to the time we lay our head on our pillow we have another chance to redeem ourselves and to try again to be a better person to ourselves and to our community. We just have to get out of that rut in our head -that nagging voice that hinders us to be grateful in every chance we can. Count your blessings every day. Trust me, your day will be as warm and bright as the glistening sun that warms your face when you step out the door. May God bless you and your family.
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