Blessed Every Single Day

Blessed Every Single Day

Scripture: Matthew 6: 9-11; 25-34

Introduction

Have you ever heard someone make the following statement: “I need to slow down” or “I feel like I am running in a rat race!”? How many times have you heard someone say that they needed to take time to smell the roses? This morning I want to encourage you to do just that, take some time to smell the roses and understand just how blessed you really are today. I have come to realize that I spend more time looking at the roses than smelling them. You see, I can look at the roses while I am continuing on my way; but in order to “smell” the roses I must stop and actually get close enough to them to smell them. Unless you are walking around in a flower shop full of roses, you cannot smell the roses unless you get up close to them. Like wise, unless you are carefully taking the time to see and experience your blessings, you will receive them and never fully appreciate them and never fully appreciating the One who gave them to you. We are so busy planning for that next thing that we fail to enjoy the here and now and then one day we wake up and our lives have passed us by.

This is the point of my message to you today. I want to encourage you to take time to enjoy your blessings (smelling the roses) on a daily basis. God is constantly working in our midst but we fail to acknowledge Him and we miss the daily things that He does because we are so future focus. Let me give you a few examples so you can understand that what we miss and fail to acknowledge, others would cherish. Here is a short list of daily blessings that get overlooked:

• Paying a bill on time. If you have days when you can pay your bills on time that is a blessing. There are many people who struggle daily to accomplish that.

• Getting over a simple cold or other sickness. If you get a cold and your body recovers, that is a blessing. There are many individuals whose immune system is so weak that a simple cold could kill them.

• A child gives you a hug and a kiss. Children give their hugs and kisses without ulterior motives. Enough said.

• You can tell your parents you love them. You know how many of us who do not have both parents living? That is a blessing.

• Telling your child you love them. Enough said.

• Being able to smell fresh brewed coffee in the morning – and I do not drink a lot of coffee but I know how important this is for some of you.

• Seeing the sun rise and set.

We spend so much time looking, planning, dreaming and talking about the future that we do not recognize what we have here in the present. If you remember nothing else, no matter how old you are, today is the first day of the rest of your life – be blessed!

I. Give Us our Daily Bread

If you are wondering whether or not it is God’s will for us to enjoy the moment let me assure you that it is. When Jesus began to teach His disciples, one of the lessons He taught them was how to pray. In that lesson, He shared with them a prayer that was acceptable to God. This prayer is known today as The Lord’s Prayer. As you read through that prayer in Matthew chapter six, look at what the prayer asks for in verse eleven: “Give us this day, our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)

In verse eleven Jesus says “Gives us this day, our daily bread.” Notice Jesus did not ask for bread for tomorrow or for next month, He asked for that day. What Jesus was sharing with the disciples was the need to focus on the present day and the needs of that day. I am not saying that it is wrong to plan ahead for God knows I do a lot of planning, but our planning should not hinder us for recognizing what is happening in our lives right now. I know that being in the here and now can be difficult at times, especially if I am sitting in a meeting, but it is crucial to recognizing God’s daily activity in your life. Let me share an example with you. As many of you know, I travel a lot for my job, often driving 3-4 hours to get to my destinations. There have been many times when I arrived at my destination without remembering all of the specifics of the trip. In case you’re wondering, no, I did not blank out and suddenly arrived at my destination without knowing how I got there. I often listen to music or just talk to God while I am driving and thus my driving becomes almost “automatic.” I do not notice all of the city signs or landmarks that I would normally remember passing nor do I pay attention to all of my surroundings. I know the route so well that a lot of the small, simple details get over looked. This also happens in our spiritual lives as we focus more on tomorrow’s achievements and milestones than what is happening around us today. How many times have we missed our turns on the highway because we were to busy doing other things (talking on the phone, listening to music, etc)? How many times have we missed God’s blessings because we were focused on the “big one” that we really, really want and are waiting on? Consider the following lesson that Jesus also taught in Matthew chapter six.