What a Privilege

The other day, I came into contact with the stones. They seemed to say to me,

“Remember when Jesus said that if men won’t praise Him we would?”

“Yes.” I replied.

“Oh that we would have mouths to declare His goodness and worship Him.”

I walked away saying, “What a privilege to praise the Lord!”

Today, I was reading about God’s Generals. A book making mention of several powerful men God used in the past. It’s come to my notice that many of them received the baptism of the Holy Spirit much later in their lives.

I look back at the time I received the gift of tongues—at 11! And my life—whether you know me or not—drastically changed! One of the results was my understanding of the Word much early, whose end, many have enjoyed through such blogs.

I walked away saying, “What a privilege to have been baptized much early!”

The other month, I heard about countries that despise the Bible, and persecute Christians. We are of course saddened by such news, & we continue to pray for the Christians in such countries, but I can only say,

“What a privilege to be born in a country with a christian foundation and freedom to worship!”

This last weekend, we reached out to a community during evangelism, and one convert with two big boys and two baby girls showed us her house. To our shock, we discovered that they sleep on a mat, on a cold hard floor.

In repentance and grief, all my stupid sufferings faded away. In the end, bad days or not, I always have a soft bed and warm blankets to retire to. Although we determined to fundraise and counter this sad thing, I walked away saying,

“What a privilege to have a bed & a pillow!”

Sometimes we need to see our lives through someone else’s lens to realise how blessed we are. Growing up, we had a small TV and most houses had tiles in them. I became grumpy. My mom owns a 3-acre garden, and some family helps us tend it.

The family had close to 15 members, of 3 generations all living in a muddy house the size of our home sitting room. I always grieved seeing this. My heart could only be grateful for what we have. . .

Don’t despise your job. This year, a sad story was broadcast of a gentleman whose father denounced him while about 8. His grandparents took him in and struggled to get him through university. He went viral as he knelt down thanking them on his graduation . . . but to many people’s disappointments, he was seen vending at the grandparents’ charcoal stall in a market days after.

What a privilege that you have your white collar job! Or whatever income earner it is!

Where am I going with this?

I came to a conclusion, that no matter where I’ll be in this life, I’ll always be in a position of gratitude for something that I’ll always have even if I could not be in possession of something else.

Look around you. Examine your life. Compare it with those street children, or relatives deep in the villages. You’ll realise that you’re way far blessed than they are!

So? Be grateful, not for what you DON’T have, but what you DO! Something happens to your heart when you do. Something good.

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“1 Thessalonians 5:18a In everything give thanks;”