All Blessings Are From God

This is Day 16 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

I was a grunt in the Marine Corps. When you are a grunt you learn to appreciate the little things. Things we take for granted in our everyday lives like toilets, showers, warm chow, coffee that is less like black tar, a bed, a roof, a floor to stand on when changing clothes that isn't dirt. Sometimes I really miss that. I'm too comfortable now. I don't appreciate all of the luxuries I have.

Lent helps with that. One of the good things about giving something up is that we learn to appreciate it more. One of the things I gave up this Lent is warm showers in the morning. I LOVE taking a shower, but when I step into that frigid water it takes all of the joy out of it. It reminds me of being a grunt. As I stood shivering in the shower this morning trying desperately to get the soap off as quickly as I could so that I could dry off, it occurred to me how blessed I am. I get to give up hot showers. There are people all over the world that do not have hot showers to give up. In the West we like to give up things like sweets or a favorite food for Lent, but there are many people who don't have food to give up.

Not only do I need to appreciate my blessings more, I need to be more thankful to God. After all, each and every one of my blessings came from Him. If there is joy in my life it is because He let me have it. I don't deserve any joy. I don't deserve any blessings. I certainly don't deserve my wonderful wife and children. But God in His never ending grace and mercy blessed me and I need to be much more thankful for that.

R.C. VanLandingham is the author of the Christian fantasy novel Peter Puckett & The Amulet of Eternity. He lives in Florida with his beautiful wife and three wonderful boys.