This happened a few years back when both my pets were alive. We had a beautiful German shepherd and a Golden Retriever. One morning, like every day, we took them out for their morning walk. A blind beggar was on the road. Begging for alms, along with his wife, who was helping him walk. They came a bit too close and speculating a threat to us, my shepherd ran after the guy. It turns out, the beggar was neither blind nor handicapped. He glanced in my dog’s direction and literally ran, with my dog behind him. Of course, we pulled his leash at the right time and saved an accident. But learned an important lesson that day.

The moral of the story was….. having eyes, he chose to be blind, having legs he pretended he couldn’t walk. There are countless ones who actually are blind and without limbs. Their only wish is…if they could see, if they could walk. And here the lazy beggar wanted to earn money by deceiving all, by earning sympathy from passersby.

How often we ignore our blessings. How often we simply choose to be blind. We take our daily supply of grace so granted. A beautiful sunny day, birds chirping, dogs playing in the backyard, our loved ones standing by us, holding our hands, that loving assurance that we are in everything….together, and the list is endless. These joys are priceless. Money can’t buy these things.
Money can get us luxury…yes. But those priceless moments, love and peace, money definitely cannot buy.

Before the Coronavirus pandemic, our lives were so different. We were so addicted to our routines, starting our days and ending each day with the same kind of home chores as well as outside errands. But suddenly, our routines are so different. Now everyone is home, and each member’s requirements for the entire day are so different. Our routines for the entire day, drastically changed. Surprisingly now people don’t have much need for clothes, cars, or junk food. Everyone just wants, their lives to come back to ‘normalcy’. And all this while, they failed to appreciate their ‘normal life’.

I read somewhere, “better to lose count while naming your blessings, than to lose your blessings to count your troubles.”

Psalm 68:19 “blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up, God is our Salvation”.

Psalm 103:10, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities .” ( Lamentations 3:22)

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail”.

Imagine the amount of grace He bears us up with daily. Else with our countless sins, mistakes and stupidity of everyday, no clue, where we will be…

Psalm 116:12, “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me?”

1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”.

James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change”

These days it’s summers in my country. God put in my heart to put a big bowl of water for all the birds perching on heated parapets. I obeyed. Every day I watch to my amazement, so many tiny little beautiful birds, come to our balconies and drink water from the same bowl. They will take one sip and look up to heaven, again a sip and again look up….as if thanking God for the bowl of water. It’s such a small thing to think of , but such a big thing for those tiny things. But they never forget to thank God for His mercies. Isn’t that wonderful? I am just a vessel. God takes pity on these beautiful creatures He created, and uses people like all of us to fulfil the needs His creations.

Mathew 6:25-34, “……..Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. “

Yet as humans, we forget to thank Him for His countless mercies. We hold on to our problems more than counting our blessings.

Our Lord is the lifter of our heads. If we trust in Him, He will never let us down. Choosing to live with a thankful heart, doesn’t mean we will not encounter disappointments, but it definitely means, our faith and trust and our attitude, will not allow us to be weighed down by them. We still will make progress and eventually come out as victors, if we keep our attitudes right.

Every time you face a challenge, praise God. Every time you face a disappointment, ask God to teach you to learn from the experience. If you keep a thankful heart, it will confuse the enemy and God will sail you through.

When people disappoint you, God wants you, instead of becoming discouraged and overwhelmed and wallowing in self pity, to lift up your head high and look to Him and look at the possibilities, and take note of your inventory of blessings instead of looking at your problems. Those are the moments we learn priceless lessons, which good times cannot teach us. Those are the moments to learn and ask God to lead you into better situations, He has for you. God has got your back. Let us not be like the blind beggar, and choose to be blind to our countless blessings and try and earn sympathy for our problems. We must cast down wrong thinking . Trial times are the right time to “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10)

Exchange hopelessness and depression with joyful expectation. Fill your surroundings with praise and see how Satan flees!

Proverbs 23:15, “……My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will be glad, even mine”.

Word of God promises us the grace and strength we require to overcome our adversities. With God’s strength, we can never become fainthearted or give up, no matter what challenges, trials or tribulations may come our way. Start counting you blessings!

(“”The writer has been a Cover page Model for various fashion magazines , anchored various musical shows for youth Channels and a (short film) filmmaker for Discovery Channel. Currently busy writing her own book””)