Dear Friends,
Count your blessings, my mother would say. Her word of wisdom often came when it was hard to do just that. Her little personal charge to me would land at a moment when I was facing a hardship, a painful time, a break in life. Count your blessings, she would say. I am pretty sure she didn’t mean for me to literally sit down and count each one, as much as to say, take a moment and find perspective, re-balance in yourself the hard with the easy, the good with the bad, the failings with the achievements.
One of the gifts of a sabbatical is taking time to stop, to listen, to watch, to gain perspective and to remember. The older I get, the more I appreciate the teachings of my parents, grandparents and elders whose words landed only partially on a younger version of myself. With more time behind me than before me, counting blessings is a good discipline. And the more I count, the more I see that even the hardships, and sometimes especially the hardships, have led to deeper benedictions.
We remember the same telling in scripture. Noah gives thanks to God after the floodwaters recede. One leper returns to express gratitude to Jesus for his healing, and he was a Samaritan. Mary’s song. Hannah’s song. Deborah’s song. David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant. Jesus giving thanks at the last supper in the company that will betray, hurt, disappoint and, in the end, become a blessing.
Count your blessings. As we approach the Thanksgiving weekend, my invitation to you and to me is to take some time and literally sit down and count our blessings – the big ones and the little ones – that encompass our lives. Good health. Family. Friends. Church. Fall colours. Fresh water. Farmers. Doctors and nurses. Outreach workers. Family pets. Streams and lakes. Squirrels and chipmunks. Parks and trails. Schools and teachers. Mentors and colleagues. The Toronto Blue Jays. Licorice and wine gums. Coffee in the morning… And peace, peace, peace in the Land of the Holy One.
In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Yours in Christ,
The Right Reverend Andrew Asbil
Bishop of Toronto
