Years ago I visited with a distraught mother of a teenage boy who had just lost his leg, and had rock shrapnel throughout his body, caused by a freak explosion. As he hung in the balance between life and death, I heard myself say to that mother. “If your son lives, you will need to remind him how much he has left.” She responded as a mother in pain would. “I cannot accept that.” 

However, several weeks later, as she and I walked the halls of that large hospital, where her son was recovering, she told me of a father she had met, and how his son had lost both of his legs. And she said, “I told him that if he lived, you will need to remind him how much he has left.”

A recent Facebook post showed a soldier that was asked “How can you have such a positive outlook with no legs.” He responded, “How can you be so negative when you have both?”

How often we focus on what we don’t have, rather than what we do have. We don’t have enough money, a good enough job, the right friends, the latest car, the right clothes. Is that where our focus is?

We don’t have to look far to see ourselves as very fortunate. Whether it is with wealth, or health, or relationships, we are blessed.

I am amazed as I re-read the story of Job in the Bible. He had everything precious, taken away in one day.  His family, his wealth, and even his health. His so-called friends told him that he ought to curse God and die! 

Yet, in spite of the tragedy he could say “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21 KJV.

May our faith in God be like that of Job. And in that trust, may our lives be full of thanksgiving for each of His blessings today.

Mike Edge, President