“Carrying our blessings as burdens”. It’s a line from a song that I have been thinking a lot about lately. There are so many things we are blessed with that we should be grateful for, but often times we act as though these things are burdens to us. The most obvious examples are material things like our house, car, and stuff. Most of us are blessed to have a house of some kind in this country and compared to the rest of the world we are very blessed to have that. But too often this blessing we see as a burden. Houses need maintenance, things break and they cost us money and time. I find myself complaining about what needs fixing at my house. In reality, I should be grateful to have a house to fix. Our cars are another thing. We have two older cars with high mileage and as a result, they need some fixing at times. They cost us money. But we forget that we are so blessed to have two cars! And even better than that they are paid off. But still I complain about having to get my oil changed.

The not so obvious examples are our families. Children are blessings from the Lord, the Bible clearly states this. But so often we see them as burdens. We have to feed and clothe them, and they need so much attention when they are younger and cause us stress when they are older. It’s so easy to get trapped into thinking these precious little ones are burdens and not blessings. Our culture today really thinks that children are burdens. They say, “you shouldn’t have too many kids because they are just money and time leaches that take you away from the really important things in your life, like your career”. A lot of adults do whatever they can to not spend time with their children, working more than necessary or farming them out to anyone who will babysit. One celebrity was quoted as saying that he felt he was a good parent because he saw his child twice a month! Don’t misunderstand me, I am in no way suggesting that you need to spend ever single second with your kids – that is not healthy. I am also not suggesting that you have to be a stay-at-home mom or dad. What I am saying is to shift your thinking and view your children as the blessings that they are. They are your greatest legacy in life and the only things that you can take to heaven with you. All this money we work so hard for will mean nothing in heaven; our children are what is important. Likewise, if you don’t have children, any relationships you have in your family are important and should be viewed as blessings. Your spouse, your parents and your siblings are blessings, not burdens. Even your in-laws!

I know these ideas are a bit counterculture, but they are true. God places blessings in our lives and expects us to be good stewards of those blessings, whether they are the “stuff” we have or the people in our lives. Don’t carry your blessings around as burdens.