Chapter 6: Jar of blessings

"What seems to us bitter trials are often blessings in disguise"- Oscar Wilde.

Today, while I was in church, I heard the Sunday school children singing, "Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done." This beautiful song captures the essence of what I want to share today.

Instead of focusing on our problems, we should start counting our blessings. Often, the challenges we face turn out to be blessings in disguise. At first, I didn’t realize it, but getting into MCC was one of those blessings. It wasn't part of my plan, and at the time, it felt like a setback. But now, I see it differently. Sometimes, the things that seem like our greatest problems can become our biggest blessings.

To truly embrace this mindset, we should start a simple practice: write down one thing we are grateful for, or one blessing we recognize, every day and place it in a jar. Then, at the end of the year, we can read through all of these notes and see just how blessed we are. It might surprise us to realize how much goodness surrounds us, goodness we were once blind to.

Life is full of unexpected gifts, and sometimes we just need a gentle reminder to see them for what they are. So, let's make a conscious effort to shift our perspective, to find joy in the small things, and to trust that even our struggles have a purpose. After all, when we start counting our blessings, we often find they were always there, just waiting to be seen.

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