O my soul, bless GOD. From head to toe, I'll bless his holy name! O my soul, bless GOD, don't forget a single blessing! He forgives your sins--every one. He heals your diseases--every one. He redeems you from hell--saves your life! He crowns you with love and mercy--a paradise crown. He wraps you in goodness--beauty eternal. He renews your youth--you're always young in his presence. - Psalm 103.1-5 (the Message)

As we live our lives in this world of suffering, it is so easy to be overcome by our sorrows and worries and anxieties that we miss the entire scope of the blessings God pours into our lives. We are very blessed creatures, though we often feel neglected, rejected, abandoned, forgotten, alone--even cast off by God Himself! These feelings well from our fallen natures and are in conflict with the whispers of the Spirit within us. The psalmist knows what it is like to fall on the polar ends of human emotions--the psalmist was human, and the psalmist no doubt struggled like every one of us. The author of this psalm was King David, a man who knew all the highs and lows of human existence: the great agony of abandonment, the horrific fear of death, the deep sorrows of regret and shame, and the joys found in a living, breathing, dynamic intimacy with God. He writes this to the people of Israel: "In your suffering, do not forget all the blessings God gives you even in the worst of times!"

Life is really confusing for me, in a myriad ways. At 3rd Place, I asked that my friends pray that God would grant me clarity. Someone piped, "Well, if you find it, bottle it and sell it!" I don't know if I'll ever experience the clarity I desire, but I do pray that God will open my eyes to the many blessings He's given me: the plethora of great, God-given friends who surround me, the family who is nonjudgmental, open, and caring, and the ministry He has gifted me with, now at 412 and later... who knows where? It is a good thing to be a member of God's cosmic family; we do not escape the sufferings of the world (didn't some wise guy say, "If you follow Me, you will suffer."?), but in our suffering we have a Friend and Comforter who knows the pain and enters into it with us.