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Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

   Note – an excerpt from “Sailing With God”

Majestic blue waves crested with white foam roll upon the sandy shore in unceasing rhythm.  Beneath the proud waves tokens are tossed up upon the sand, God’s incredible ceramic artwork of the deep, beautiful conch shells.

       As my husband and I run along the beach, I carry a shelling bag.  I stop and pick up each perfect conch shell I see.  Running with a conch shell in both hands is like running with weights, two conch shells are easy to manage, two soon becomes three and soon my bag is very heavy. Each time I stop I have to juggle the increasing weight and size of the shell bag.  The distance between my husband and me increases, and running becomes more difficult. 

    Not only are shells heavy but they also painfully poke into my side as I run.  If I carry them in front of me, they tend to clang around in the bag. Still, I am happy with my load, for I know if I were to ignore the beautiful shells and run past them intent on picking them up on our return cool down walk, they would be gone. 

    In our lives roll in many blessings; home, spouse, children, friends, churches and jobs.   All these blessings are a gift from our Father for us to cherish.  As we run the race of life, our blessings accumulate, until at times our blessings seem like a lot of work.  How easily we become exhausted by our by the abundance of our responsibilites which ultimately were and are blessings from our loving God. 

Let’s look at marriage as an example. The divorce rate and dysfunctional families reflect the sad fact that blessings can become perceived as burdens. Loving marriages devlove into irritations.  How doe the happiness of a wedding day turn into the grief of divorce? What happened to that wonderful blessing, the hopes and dreams of a young bride and groom?  Statistically,in over 50% of marriages a judge through divorce will declare the marriage ended.  

The same deterioration can be seen in family dynamics with children. There is nothing as wonderful as the birth of a child.  Yet a few years later that same child can be neglected and abused.  Family bonds can shatter from a lack of love.  Our wonderful God given blessings tragically may be discarded like an unwanted shell and thrown back into the sea. 

     If we feel the burden of life weighing upon us, we should stand back a moment and ask ourselves which blessings would we truly cast back into the waves?  Which blessing would we tell God to take back – that we don’t want it anymore?  There are many times in a family life where all is not pretty and perfect.  Tempers may run short; money can run even shorter bringing on incredible stress.  Seriously ponder for a moment; where would we be without our families, friends, church or jobs? Erase God’s blesings and you are left with nothing but a lonely image in the mirror. How often do our actions say, “God, I don’t want to carry this blessing anymore – there are too many responsibilities that go along with the blessings you have given me.” 

We can ignore the gifts God has placed at our feet.  We can throw the gifts back at Him and say, “Not good enough.” then we may find ourselves stepping back and watching as someone else picks up the blessings and cherishes them instead of us. 

If we take the time to marvel at the beautiful blessings God has richly provided, the burden of their weight will become a joy.  May each of us take time to look and wonder at the beauty of God’s blessings and may we always cherish each of them as gifts tailor made for us.  They are our treasures, our perfect works of art given to us by a loving Heavenly Father.  He will give us the strength to carry our blessings. 

So as we run the race of life, may we run with our arms happily embracing the treasures God has freely given.  When the race is run and our task completed, may we be found faithful in our race; and may we not have lost even one of the precious charges He has given into our keeping.