By Andrew Greenhalgh, Life Group leader, Jubilee Church Wirral

As I sit down to write this blog, I am surrounded by little blessings.

I came into my office this morning to be greeted by a note from my son which would be hugely sweet if it was left for me by my 10-year-old, but was touching beyond measure considering it was left by my 19-year-old.

I have just eaten a mince pie which, no exaggeration, is possibly the nicest mince pie I have ever tasted.

(Confession: I have eaten a lot of mince pies.)

I am listening to fantastic Christmas music on my iPod in the office. This morning I have been accompanied by The Waitresses, Bruce Springsteen, Eurythmics, The Ronettes and many others. Right now, Run DMC are playing!

My wife has just messaged me to say how excited my daughter was at opening her lunch which I made her yesterday afternoon.

A very good friend of mine has messaged with an encouraging message from a guest at this weekend’s youth meeting.

Another good friend saved me a whole load of time by doing something yesterday afternoon.

These are just a smattering of the ways I feel blessed today.

Now if I wanted to, I could list a few things that I am struggling with at the moment. My life is not perfect.

But it’s so important to thank God for the basic stuff. The stuff we could not notice and forget about if we didn’t make an effort.

Being grateful and praising God for the little things as well as the big things isn’t just important, it actually HELPS us. We were made to worship. We don’t feel complete unless we do it.

In Psalm 34, David says this: “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Glorify the Lord with me: Let us exalt his name together.Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.”

That sounds like a direct invitation from David to me. I don’t know about you, but when David invites me to praise God with him I’m saying yes.

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking: “There’s nothing in my life to be grateful for. Everything’s rubbish and I’m not praising anyone thanks very much.”

I get that. I’ve felt like that plenty of times too. But I know from experience that saying thank you to God for the smallest of things (electricity, running water, a bed to sleep in) is a good way to start feeling a bit brighter.

So here’s a challenge.

Think of something that you can be grateful for today. More than one thing if you’re feeling adventurous.

Then thank God for it.

That’s it.

Andrew Greenhalgh with his wife Julie