Got Your Blessing Calculator for Thanksgiving Day?
Posted: Wednesday, November 10, 2010
by Mogama
http://www.mogama.info
In the words of an old hymn, "Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done." Long before that mid-19th century hymn, James, the brother of Jesus, wrote, "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials" ( James 1:2).
My paraphrase of that hymn and Scripture, "Get out your blessing calculator, and do the math for Thanksgiving Day."
"So how blessed am I? What reasons do I have to be grateful?"
Hopefully I will win more than just a few partners in thankfulness as I work my blessing calculator.
~mogama~
My paraphrase of that hymn and Scripture, "Get out your blessing calculator, and do the math for Thanksgiving Day."
Hopefully I will win more than just a few partners in thankfulness as I work my blessing calculator.
- Life. I am alive. About 53.4 million people die annually; that's 146,357 kicking the bucket every day.
- Health. I am in good health. I could be sick, in an accident, or in the hospital.
- Education. I can read and write. The literacy rate for Liberia is just 57.5%.
- Sight. I can see. Nearly 40 million of the world's people are blind.
- Mobility. I can move around. I could be lame, home-bound, bedridden, physically disabled.
- Hearing. I can hear. SIPP (Survey of Income & Program Participation) estimates about 1 in 20 Americans are deaf or hard of hearing; that's some 17.5 million people.
- Shelter. I live in a home of my choice. And I have a bed to sleep on. There are two million people in America's prisons. Refugees around the world number more than 10 million. In 2005 the UN gave 100 million as the conservative estimate of homeless people in the world.
- Family. I have a wife (beautiful, hardworking), one son, two daughters. Some 100 million children in the world have no place they can call home.
- Employment. I have income. Anywhere from 8.7 million to 12.5 million people are jobless in America. In Liberia, my native country, the unemployment rate is 85%. The typical Liberian worker earns less than $30 per month.
- Food. Every day I eat breakfast, lunch, supper, plus snacks in between. I even throw away leftovers every now and then. The hungry people of the world are 925 million. According to Bread For The World , hunger kills almost 16,000 children every day; three of them could be mine.
- Clean Water. I can choose tap water, bottled water, filtered water, distilled water, or reverse-osmosis water. About 1.2 billion worldwide do not have safe water to drink or bathe with.
- I am not a turkey. Added to the 146,357 human beings who will die on Thanksgiving Day will be 45 million turkeys that will be consumed by Americans.
~mogama~
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Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)Beautifully said, Mogama with a little added humor ~ ! szThanks, Sz, for taking time to comment. ~mogama~
You have such a great sense of humor (turkeys)! Your list put things in perspective for me, thanks. I think it's very important to be grateful.And thank you, Jennifer, for affirming the importance of gratitude. ~mogama~
Hello Mogama! ? I love this and have been thinking of making a list myself. Love the added humor.
May the Lord continue to bless the work of your hands as you Lord Jesus! TeresaThanks, Teresa, for your words of blessing. I receive the blessing as coming from the Lord. ~mogama~
Yes Mogama, here in the U S, we often take for granted how well off we are in comparison with other 3rd. world countries. I count my blessings each and every day.good article"...here in the U S, we often take for granted how well off we are..." Perhaps I can understand the "take for granted" group, David. The bunch that amazes me is the steady-income, air-conditioned-home Americans who actually complain about how tough they have it.
All is wonderfully said Mogama. May more people everyday start noticing their blessings and not only during a holiday."May more people everyday start noticing their blessings and not only during a holiday." Totally agreed, Walter.
I especially like the humor of #12. thanks for the seasonal reminder - we truly do have much to be thankful for!I'm tickled, Marijo, that you got something out of it. Yep, just a reminder ... to me too. ~mogama~
Good message. We should all count our blessings daily. And on the lighter side, "It sucks to be a turkey."Thank you, David, for commenting. ~mogama~
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