Count your blessings

It's been a bleak winter, with cold weather, snow and ice, and miserable news about severe Government cuts and austerity measures. We’ve seen the pain and discomfort this has caused in our own town, around the country, and even across the western world.

We hear from our leaders that we’re all in this together, which is a wonderful sentiment; but we also know that it's the poorest and most dependent who suffer most at these times.
It's no wonder that we tend to focus on the down side of life, and the things that we don’t have. And now, on top of everything we have the churches season of Lent – and another chance to be even more miserable!

Certainly in Lent it's a chance for us to reflect on our own spiritual lives, to see how self centred we can be – and to take the opportunity for turning around, putting things right and asking forgiveness.

But I think that Lent is also a chance to focus on the good things we have, and to count our blessings – because despite the cut-backs, we still have so very much to be thankful for.
Count your blessings is the name of a programme by Christian Aid to help us make more of Lent.
As they write: “Lent is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and give thanks for even our smallest blessings, and to turn our thoughts to those in need in our own country and especially around the world. The Christian Aid programme ‘Count your blessings’ is a creative way to pray for, and give to, the work of Christian Aid. From Ash Wednesday to Easter there are some simple daily actions and reflections to help us have a meaningful Lent.”

We’ll have some of these in Church to pick up and use during Lent, and you can go online to find more information at www.christianaid.org.uk/getinvolved/lent-2011/
This Lent, may God give us a fresh understanding of his love and grace, and the blessings we have been given.