Another Sunday morning McDonalds’ egg McMuffin senior coffee 7 AM with wife. The one we go to is very clean. A man was out pressure washing the entire parking lot, and it seems that they do that regularly. Another man does nothing but clean inside. So we get two overpriced muffin, egg, Canadian bacon breakfast sandwiches but the 2nd one is only $1 with the app. Senior coffee is 69 cents. Can’t beat that! The joy of being a senior citizen!

The managers are very nice. They have come to know us as regulars. The lady manager was telling me that she lost her daughter in a car wreck 5 years ago. I asked her if today, mother’s day, was tough on her and she said it was, but she clinched a necklace that she was wearing that was her daughter’s or was given to her by her daughter (I don’t listen to details very well!) and said that she was doing ok. She also told me that her family had a history of early deaths due to cancer but that she didn’t even want to know if she had cancer b/c she was ready to just go to be with her daughter. Sounds like Paul, doesn’t it? He said that he would rather just die and go to be with the Lord. We gave her a nice tip to eat out on and that felt good. But most of all, it made us thankful that God has blessed us with 3 grown healthy children who have godly marriages and are raising godly families. Tragedy has never struck our house. Parents dying, yes, but never a tragedy like losing a child. I hope I could be as positive as that lady manager if I had a tragedy of losing a child.

Also I must mention the debate over whether I should buy flowers for my wife on mother’s day. I had someone trying to make me feel guilty b/c I wasn’t going to buy flowers for my wife today. I argued that my wife was not my mother. My mother passed away in 2010. “But your wife is your children’s mother!” was the counter argument. “Excatly”, I said. “So my children should buy their mother flowers, not me.” I have had two or three people agree with me on this. So on the way home from House of the Harvest yesterday morning, I stop to buy chicken livers at Publix (for my grandson to fish with) and I see all these overpriced flower bouquets. To appease the person making me feel guilty for not buying flowers for my wife on mother’s day, I bought a bouquet. At least I wasn’t hypocritical about it. I told my wife that the main reason I bought the bouquet was so I would not be criticized for not buying. She just laughed so I guess all is well! Such is life in our family and 54 years of marriage. Actually I did buy them for my wife also. They look very nice on our kitchen bar and she likes them. Maybe I’m not totally bad.

What’s that song? “Count your many blessings, name them one by one. And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

Here are the lyrics to the song for us to meditate on today:

1 When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

2 Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, ev’ry doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by. [Refrain]

3 When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. [Refrain]

4 So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end. [Refrain]

From staugustine.com. “Gipsy Smith, a famous evangelist of yesteryear, said of this song, “Men sing it, boys whistle it and women rock their babies to sleep to it.”

Johnson Oatman, Jr., born April 21, 1856, was a citizen of Lumberton, N.J. His dad was a local merchant and just happened to be the best singer in town, with a rich, powerful voice. Young Johnson could not sing as well as his father, yet he grew up wanting to make some musical contributions of his own. However, for a time he worked in the family business, but soon gave up those opportunities and began to study for the ministry. After finishing school and ministering in the Methodist Episcopal churches for a time, Johnson continued to hope that life surely held some other plans for him.

At 36, he realized that he did, without question, have a musical talent after all. He could write songs for other Christians to sing. So, every year some 200 songs flowed from his pen. He eventually had written 5,000 songs and was happy that in his musical compositions he had found a way to “preach the Gospel.”

Of all the songs Oatman wrote. he seemed to claim as his own favorites, “No, Not One” (1895) and “Higher Ground (1898).” (In the Church of Christ we sang these songs many, many times).

However, people everywhere seemed to adopt another of his very special songs, “Count Your Blessings,” written in 1897. Almost immediately it began its meteoric journey.” Oatman died in 1922.

If you can’t sing, write songs for others to sing!