Philippians 4:11-13 (ESV)
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Blessings come in all forms. Friends, neighbors, strangers. Good things, bad things. Joy and sadness. Peace and stress. “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” I am to be content. About now with all that’s gone on recently, that might seem like a stretch. It’s not.

I have a couple/few/several life saying that frame up my existence here on earth which I’ve learned along the way: Argue your limitations and sure enough they are yours. You can wear your life around your neck like a millstone, or around your hips like a tools belt – they weigh the same but what you do with them are completely different. You never hit bottom until you put down the shovel. Leave the campsite cleaner than you found it. What happens to you here on earth doesn’t matter, what you do here does. Through Christ all things are possible. Eternity changes everything. There are more. Life in a capsule.

There’s depth in brevity. “If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.” – attributed to Mark Twain, Abe Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, others….

Galatians 6:7-10 (NIV)
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

To be content and living within the confines of God seems to be really difficult for some people – such in the power of our flesh. To be content with living within the confines – to do good and leave the world a significantly better place than you found it – is there a higher calling? To allow God to work through you, to be present for His amazing love to transform a day, an hour, a moment – is there anything greater? If the answer is yes, you’ve staked your self (two separate words on purpose) higher than God.

Matthew 6:25-33 (ESV)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In there is What shall we do????

We are blessed to wake up each morning and to be allowed to have God present in our lives. Nothing more is needed. No matter what happens, the pain we live through, the loss we suffer, the joy we embrace, nothing more is needed than to know that someday we’ll be in His presence. That defines the greatest blessing we’ve been given – to walk with Him, to allow Him to work through us to change the lives of others, to allow Him to be The Light, The Way, The Truth. That is a blessing that has no greater peer, no peer at all.

How are you blessed today?