Ordinary and Extravagant Blessings

Last Friday, I picked up our rental car. I got upgraded to a Mercedes-Benz, a car I’ll never be able to afford to buy.

We traveled to Cambridge, an hour west of Toronto, to one of our favorite coffee shops. Once a week, Char and I try to find a coffee shop we enjoy and indulge ourselves with a good Americano and a treat. Because we were traveling, we added a lunch to our weekly date.

Then we stopped at my mother’s, just an hour farther. She had offered to take us out for Indian food. We live in Toronto, where we have amazing Indian restaurants, so the bar is set pretty high, but the dinner was excellent, as was the time with my mother.

I then stopped at my brother’s, a short distance away, for dessert, which included pecan tarts from a local farmer’s market and freshly picked strawberries.

The next day, we traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was scheduled to speak at a church on Sunday, but we traveled a day earlier to enjoy the city. The weather was perfect, much better than expected.

Our first stop was Zingerman’s Deli, another place I love and visit every time I’m in the area. Lunch was amazing. After, we shopped. Char bought an item of clothing, and I found 7 vinyl records for less than $5. I couldn’t believe the price. Then I picked up some packages I had ordered from Amazon. Books!

We checked in at our hotel, where we’d stayed before. This time, the rooms were upgraded. We watched a good movie, and I had a good sleep.

The next morning I preached twice. I appreciated the church, and my message was well received. We went out to lunch with someone we met at the church, and then drove home after buying ourselves a coffee and treat on the road. We crossed the border quickly, and we didn’t have to pay any taxes even though we were a little over our limit.

Later, I reflected on all the blessings I’d enjoyed over the weekend: a luxury car, time with my wife, time with my family, amazing food, a town I enjoy, an updated hotel, the opportunity to preach, a warm reception from a church that didn’t know me, and hospitality from new friends. And new books. That’s just a start. If I thought about it much longer, I could come up with other blessings that I enjoyed this weekend.

Sometimes we focus on the hard things in our lives, of which there are plenty. But we often forget how kind God is in giving us so many blessings. He isn’t stingy. He loves to suprise us with his good gifts. Many of these gifts would have been unthinkable to previous generations. In many ways, we live better than millionaires from just a hundred years ago.

But we often miss the blessings not because there aren’t many, but because they’re too common.

So I’m praying: Lord, give me eyes to see your good gifts. Help me to see how regularly you provide for more than my needs. Help me to see, amidst the problems of life, the ordinary and extravagant blessings you so regularly give. Help me not to miss your goodness. And give me, I pray, a very grateful heart.