“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 NIV

I was wondering this week “How long would it take to count to one million?” Turns out there is a record for doing just that: 89 days. The record holder counted out loud for 16 hours per day. The other eight hours each day were spent sleeping and eating. I think about a lot of things on the road when I travel for work. I am not saying these topics always make sense, but this time maybe they did.

The backstory is this, I turned 56 the day after Christmas a couple of weeks ago. As I have grown to look more and more like my father, I have noticed that my mind slows done once in a while. My job, as well as the job of most people can become a grind at times. It reminds me to be thankful to just be Rick when I get home. There are people there and man do I love them. Sometimes after a long drive home everyone is asleep. The house is quiet. I can settle in under the covers and just lay there and thank God for my family, for my work, for our friends. I can drift off to sleep counting the number of things I am thankful for.

We hosted our annual Christmas Open House right before Christmas. It really is one of our favorite days of the year. Friends and family pack into the house and visit. It is usually loud and crowded. We look forward to it every year. I’ll just say it is a special day.

I was reminded this year that the reason we started the Open House started in tragedy. Jordyn had been killed three months earlier on September 11, 2009. In short, there was a time when being around us was hard, awkward even. Friends were not sure if they should laugh and tell stories about their kids and we weren’t sure if our doing so would bring people down. It had become difficult to just be together. Not bad, just hard.

My amazing wife came up with the idea so on the Saturday before Christmas that year she put together our first Open House. It worked. All of the awkward conversations got easier. Laughing got easier and more frequent. Friendships grew. Out of the worst thing that ever happened to us God gave us one of the best things to ever happen to us.

Back to the counting, I am not sure this will make sense outside of my head, but I think I too often look at the negative things that I cannot figure out. Instead, I could spend more time focused on the good things that I can actually see. I think I could spend more time appreciating those first moments home from the road when the bed feels so good you almost don’t want to fall asleep, it’s the best place on earth to me.

We have been on the bottom before. We have had nothing before. So have a lot of people. What I want to challenge myself to do is be aware of blessings, like the Alexa behind me that plays Chris Stapleton songs on demand. I have a chair under me that sits on a wood floor that has a roof over it. I have on a University of Kansas hoodie. Korbin was watching movies in Russian yesterday and I think he understood them. Aly started student teaching. Schuyler found the strength to open her heart to a new dog after losing hers a few months ago. Four sisters and one brother. Logan. Peanut Butter Whiskey. Friends. A car. Shoes. A job. My wife is Mary – I need nothing.

Where I am going with this is simple: Let’s spend some time counting our very specific blessings. I think I often spend too much time counting the things I wish I could change instead of remembering how much better some things turned out than even I had in mind. Honestly, I think I could break the record. 89 days is not enough time. Everything above eternity in Hell is a blessing. I should thank Him more.

Does your prayer life include asking God for specific things? That’s not wrong.

Does your prayer life include somewhat equal time thanking God for specific things? Even better.

Challenge: Take a fresh look at the time you spend with God. Even if you cannot think of specific things to thank Him for, try thanking Him for the moment you just spent thinking with Him - God. We might be surprised how fast 89 days goes.

Rick L. Claiborn