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"The proud man counts his newspaper clippings, the humble man his blessings." - Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

"When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around." - Willie Nelson

Blessing are the simple little gifts of Divinity which are bestowed upon us nearly every day. They come to us in invisible little gift  boxes which contain no colorful gift wrapping, fancy bow or cute little card to announce their arrival. Blessings are delivered to us
quietly and unannounced. It is up to us Seekers to recognize these invisible little gifts when they come our way and be thankful and appreciative for receiving them.

But what are these Blessings that we are supposed to recognize, appreciate and be thankful for receiving?

To begin with, every morning most of us wake up with the Blessings of our health, basic comforts, peace of mind and a good night's sleep. These Blessings alone are a pretty good way to begin our day. However, this is just the beginning of our day and our gift bag
will be full of numerous other blessings before our day is finished.

With these Thoughts in mind, let us take a look at some of the many other Blessings which go into our gift bags every day.

Blessings as Common Courtesies: These are the kindnesses and favors which are bestowed upon us by others. Some examples of these kinds of Blessings are: the person who holds a door open for us; a courteous driver who lets us enter a long line of traffic; a child who smiles us and waves "hello"; a bank teller who opens a new window to help us conduct our business more quickly; a college professor who meets with us on his, or her, day off to offer us guidance, and; coupons (or sales) which appear for us on items we are suddenly in need of purchasing.

Common Courtesy Blessings come to us every day in many different forms. They are the Feather, the "little things", that bring joy into our lives.

Blessings as Divine Intercession: Symbolically, these types of Blessings are represented by The Hand In The Cloud. These Blessings take the form of answers and Insights that come to us in our dreams, during meditations, "out of the blue", and during
conversations with friends and strangers.

Divine Intercession Blessings also occur in the form of unexpected opportunities; a rare winter snowstorm in the desert; and, butterflies, lightening bugs and the whisper of the breeze through the trees.

While Blessings are being bestowed upon us every day, often we are too immersed with our own "problems" and "misfortunes" to recognize them. So, they pass us by.

However, recognizing and being thankful for our small blessings prepares us to be able to recognize and be thankful for the greater Blessings and opportunities which Divinity has prepared for us: Blessings and opportunities which also come to us "Free Of
Charge!"

Joseph Panek

http://www.aseekersthoughts.com/2009/11/blessings.html