Don't Lose Sight of the Good...

DON'T LOSE SIGHT OF THE GOOD...
“Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”  ~ Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings
 
Life will throw everyone a curve ball at some time (multiple times if you are like most of us), and even if we think we have achieved a good batting average in life, sometimes we get faked-out by the curve balls and cannot hit the ball no matter how hard we try. Such experience is common to all humans. We inevitably mess up and fail. It is the natural course of existence in this broken world being corrupted by sin. But, Charles Dickens' words hold true for any generation. We all have our own collection of misfortunes. Bad things have happened to every one of us and we have all done bad things too, but the quantity and magnitude of such experiences cannot out-weigh (no matter what some may think) the greater and more frequent experience of God's blessings, which we all have received too many to ever count or consciously appreciate.
 
Regarding the less than desirable experiences we endure in this life, I find that we make more out of them than we should. It appears to be a common tendency to inflate the devastation of one's tribulations in life. Exaggeration of our afflictions seems to be the default setting we engage each time we think or speak about our trials and afflictions. Why do we want to magnify our troubles? Do we want people to feel sorry for us? Or to think that our experiences were worse that they really were? Maybe we want our experiences to be larger than life in order to assign greater meaning to them and so be recognized as such by others. Most of us would call this “being dramatic”.
 
I find that we are disposed to the opposite tendency than we ought to be. Our minds dwell more easily on the reverse of what they should. Should we not find greater glory in the good things in life? Why not esteem our blessings as the most important things that we experience? Why not let them be what we proclaim and converse about.
  
I think we all have had times when we have gone through a pity party for ourselves. No one can say they have not tried to cook up a bigger meaning to a misfortune or accident that happened to them in order to elicit attention or a response from friends, family, co-workers, or anyone else. What is so difficult to see, though, is that the blessings we receive are far more worthy of our time and attention. But this is so hard if you are in the middle of experience a trial. However, I think that is exactly the time that our blessings require more attention. It is easy to talk up the good things in life when life is good and you have no complaints. Try and have the same attitude when nothing goes your way, you are struggling through life, and it seems everyone is against you.
  
Proverb 24:16 NLT
The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.
 
Falling down (entering a bad time in life, making a bad decision, feeling like your life is a fight all the time, etc.) is a natural experience in this life, but the result is that we need to get back up again and again and keep going. I am reminded of a favorite song of mine on this topic: “Get Back Up Again” by Toby Mac. He chorus line has been like a mantra when life gets tough.
 
We lose our way
We get back up again
It's never too late to get back up again
One day you will shine again
You may be knocked down
But not out forever
 
So while we might get knocked down at different times in our life, we can think upon and give thanks for the blessings we are still receiving even in the process of standing back up again. Simply the strength to stand and not surrender when attacked is a blessing few may recognize. A blessing most often not a exceptionally advantageous gift that get one ahead in life, it is the power of God sustaining us and delivering us from our time of trouble.
 
Let us count our blessings for they incontrovertibly out-number our tragedies beyond our comprehension. Just because we cannot point our finger at each one of them that we receive does not mean that they are not still flowing into our lives. Often the blessings we least recognize are the ones that we need the most.....but we have taken them for granted and become numb to their practical importance for our very existence. Let us not neglect to see that our blessings are many and our troubles are few, even if we do not consider this the truth even when we are suffering, struggling, or distressed. 

Psalm 103:1-2 NLT
Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me.