Have you ever sat and watched the evening news and marveled at just how blessed you were?

There seems to be so many disasters in our world…war, violence, hunger, natural disasters and devastation all over our world and yet we have food, clothing, shelter and freedom. How can we be so blessed?

Do you remember the verse that suggests to whom much has been given much will be expected? One Biblical translation says “Where someone has been given much, much will be expect of him; and the more he has had entrusted to him, the more will be demanded of him.”

It is rather a challenging reminder that we are truly blessed. I’ll admit that there are times when I wonder just why I have been so blessed throughout my life. I don’t mean that life hasn’t been difficult, that there haven’t been pains and sorrows, but when compared to so much of the world, I have been blessed.

Recently I was sitting on the edge of my bed reading one of my devotionals and I found myself transported back to my childhood. As I’ve said before, I lived on a farm. We had a well and a cistern. Water wasn’t to be wasted. So, when I visited my relatives in town and we could turn on the outside faucet and play with the hose, it was a real treat. One of my uncles would set up a stepladder and fasten the hose on top. Then when the water was turned on we could run back and forth with the water spraying down on us and on a hot day in summer, getting soaked was a real treat.

In fact, I wonder if perhaps others can remember going outdoors after a rainstorm and grabbing a tree branch and shaking and enjoying the water sprinkling down on them.

Back to the devotional I read…the author was describing watching little ones playing in the water gushing from a fire hydrant. In some cities in the hot summer, these hydrants are opened for a time and children have the chance to play the gushing water. What fun on a hot and muggy day!

This author reminded the reader that God ‘pours forth’ His blessings on all of us each and every day.

But…and this is the problem…we forget. He lists a litany of aggravating problems that cause him to forget.

I could come up with my own list. I’ve parked in lot, entered a store, purchased my item and when I come out, the car won’t start. I need to call AAA and wait and after it starts I am warned not to turn it off but go someplace and get a new battery because that one is ‘done for’.

Not at all what I had planned for my afternoon and I am worried, perplexed and frustrated.

I’ve worked hard to try out a new recipe that incorporates lots of expensive ingredients but when it is cut and served, we all decide we’d rather have a dish of ice cream. Not too much pleasure from that endeavor. Throw that recipe away.

I need help with work outdoors and while I know there are those who will help I wish they could come when I ask them instead of me having to wait til it fits their schedule. I’m impatient and it does absolutely no good. Why can’t I rejoice that it will get done?

I have plans for inviting folks over but in spite of my preparations, they can’t come and everything has to be rescheduled. I’m frustrated.

Someone I really care about is very, very ill and while I pray for healing, I am worried my plans aren’t God’s plans.

Oh, I could go on and on…from the tiny, petty little things that frustrate an individual to the serious worries that enter our lives.

Just as water gushes out of the hydrant for children to enjoy in the summer’s heat, so God’s blessings continually are a part of our daily lives.

The question we need to ask ourselves is, “Why do we let ourselves become bogged down and frustrated with little issues that are in the scheme of life often quite inconsequential?”

God has blessed us over and over again. We ‘mess up’ and God forgives. We are unloving and God continues to love. We are not generous with the gifts we have been given but God continues to give. We forget to pray but God doesn’t desert us. We behave in ways that disappoint our God, but we aren’t abandoned.

If we think that the gush of water that comes forth from a hydrant is ‘tremendous’, how would we begin to describe the blessings that come forth from our God?

Instead of focusing on what is ‘wrong’ in our lives, perhaps we need to focus on what is ‘right’ in our lives.

What is our God continuing to do that we fail to acknowledge? Why when we have so much are we dissatisfied at times? Why do we decide that God has deserted us when it is us who have wandered away?

Most of us are familiar with the 23rd Psalm and the promises it affords us. But I also like Psalm 103…Let me just remind you of a few of the promises offered there.

We are forgiven, He heals, He surrounds me with mercy, fills my life with good things, He is merciful and tender, slow to anger, full of kindness and love, He is like a father, tender and sympathetic…and on and on.

If I were to use the symbolism of a hose, those blessings would surely not be trickling from a garden hose but spewing forth from at least a fireman’s large, powerful hose.

God’s love and mercy are constantly overflowing into our lives daily. It is just that we often let the anxieties of the day, the problems that occur, and the tensions that exist in relationships to overshadow God’s gifts, God’s love and above all His grace.

The small devotion I read ended with these words. “Adding up your blessings will multiply your joy.”