Counting Our Blessings

It is New Year's Eve and Valerie and I are celebrating in our normal fashion. She went to bed early to try to recover from the exhaustion of going and being with family for the past few days. I have been reading and preparing for another session with my colleague bishops this week. The radio is playing and I am enjoying not being under any immediate deadlines.

God has blessed me is so many ways. I work with some of the most dedicated Christian disciples one could ever hope to meet. They sometimes must be told to stay home, get some rest, and come back to work when they are feeling much better. These individuals are not workaholics. They work because they know what they are doing is making a difference in the Kingdom of God. They push themselves because they want to help others be able to do their very best. They see themselves as the support team, often unseen and perhaps underappreciated, who go about their task in order that others can more effectively make disciples of Jesus Christ. They rejoice when a congregation becomes stronger, more effective, and more joyful about being the Body of Christ. No offense is taken when others stand in the spotlight and take credit for jobs where they received significant support and assistance from their behind the scenes coworkers. Their eyes are focused on the end results where Jesus is glorified. It is such a pleasure to work with these individuals.

I am blessed with a wonderful, generous wife who supports, encourages, and enables me to take a few steps back or go to the balcony to see the big picture when I am ensnarled in the immediate demands and expectations placed on me. She loves me when I am frustrated, angry, and unlovable. She encourages me when I fail to understand that change is hard and often takes much longer than I assume is necessary. She supports me when the problems I confront appear to have no solutions and people are unwilling to even consider there might be a third way to resolve a situation where everyone is losing and living like Jesus is a foreign subject that no one seems interested in pursuing.

Jesus blesses me with his presence. The message of Christmas is not a sentimental holiday where everyone pretends to be happy for about twenty four hours. Jesus is indeed God with us, Emmanuel. He is with me and even when I let him go, he never lets me go. He continues to love, care, and dwell with me regardless of how rough the way may become.

It has been a great 2011 and I know 2012 will be an even better year because God has blessed me and God continues to bless me. I only need to stop and count my blessings.

Happy New Year.

-Max