A few years ago, I was disciplining under one of best men I’ve ever had the privileged of knowing, Don Schiewer. One of the practices he instilled in me was actually writing down things that I was blessing G-d for. Initially I had thought this was an absurd idea because I was young, arrogant, and had a health dose of anger. This had felt too superficial and I was looking for deep meaning with G-d. Like I said I was young, also I had also come from being on staff at a church that not only welcomed things like this, but would only stay in the superficial realm.
After scoffing internally, I grinned through it and started writing them down. Much to my arrogant surprise over time it started to help me see G-d in the everyday. While I haven’t done this in a few years, among a few other things, as a result I’ve stopped not just seeing G-d in the everyday but ignoring the everyday people that bare the image of G-d. As part of wanting to go deeper and reawakening this part of my life I started meditation. Truth be told, this was something I’ve wanted to get into but the character Chirrut Imwe from the film, “Rogue One” has really helped to bring this home.
As you can guess, I have decided to start tracking these blessings again. It wont always be regular, but it will continue to be a building list. For today, here are my three:
- My wife.
- The extra time I had this morning. I left for work early this morning and my recycling bin was knocked over spilling bottles, cardboard and old mail into the street. I had more than enough time to pick it up and re-stand my bin stress free.
- Coffee.
(This post originally appeared on my previous blog pintwiththepastor.wordpress.com on 1/3/2017)