Blessings We Can Count On

By Jennifer Alexander, Co-Chair, Adult Education Committee

Two old hymns come to mind when I think of counting our blessings:

Count your blessings,

    Name them one by one.

Count your blessings,

    See what God hath done.

and

Showers of blessings,

    Showers of blessings we need.

Mercy-drops 'round us are falling,

    But for the showers we plead!

The first is an account, a list of blessings we've got in hand. The second is a hope, blessings we desperately need but wonder (let's be honest!) if we're really going to get.

In between is something else: blessings we can count on, blessings not yet in hand, blessings we know we will have. Can we really expect blessings? We count them, and hope for them; what if we really expected them? We get one from the pulpit every week, deliberate and spoken; we can certainly count on that. I am led to wonder if some blessings, those we expect, can become routine. What if we knew them, again, as blessings for which people plead?