The Blessings Jar

I keep telling myself that I need to be posting more 'client-related' stories, but then I always have "just this one more"...

Our family keeps a blessings jar, which is basically just a mason jar with the lid punched out, sitting on the kitchen table. As the year rolls by, we write down any blessings or praises on sticky notes and drop them in. Now and then, as the seasons slip through our fingers and holidays tick along, that colorful little jar catches my eye, and watching it slowly fill is a beautiful reminder of just how present Christ really is in our lives.

It's easy to forget the blessings, and those amazing moments that we are stumped by Grace. But then, on nights like tonight, we take that jar down and unscrew the lid, and one by one, the memories pour out. If you've never done this, I encourage your family to begin the tradition today. I promise, the reality of the love of Jesus is unavoidably undeniable.

Of all of them last year, my personal favorite is this one, from April 25th, 2007. It's a simple little scribble that reads "Dad is coming to Lifelight!"


Some of you might not pick up on the significance of that little blessing, but read this post and you'll understand the depth of what this means to me.

My dad did come to Lifelight, and ended up giving his life back to Christ. The phone calls that he and I have had since then, even the email correspondence, have been nothing short of a miracle. Our relationship is very simply, restored. It used to be we'd talk about the basics. How the car is running, the weather, the kids.... Now, we have conversations filled with love and encouragement for one another. That little note, scribbled on April 25th, was just a quick thanks from me to God from a guy who had no idea just how big God's plan really was. A guy that had no way of knowing that five months later, that blessing would transform into an event that would change my life, and my dad's, forever.

Tonight my cup is full, to the brim. And I know exactly where the credit is due.


"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, to know that this love surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Eph. 3:17-19