Odd Blessings

Each night at bedtime, before we say prayers with our kids, we sing the Doxology together.  In case you aren't familiar with it, the words begin, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow..."  But last night, I listened to my children sing it and realized that all this time my seven-year-old son has been singing it, "Praise God from whom ODD blessings flow..."

I suppressed a giggle and came downstairs to tell Hubs about it.  Though the more I thought about it, the more I realized there's some good theology in his little slip-up.  Praise God for the odd blessings--the ones that sneak up on us, the ones that don't even look like blessings until they're long past us.   Praise Him for the mixed bag, the curvy road, the speed bumps of life.  Sometimes the odd blessings are the best ones.

Comments

[peach]

Out of the mouths of babes! I used to sing, "Praise Him all creatures . . . hear me low." when I was a little girl. Amazing how such a simple song can get so mixed up and yet still retain a sense of its true meaning. That's a wonderful idea to sing the Doxology with them.

[peach]

Oh, BTW, where is you cute face? I miss seeing you every morning!

[GiBee]

Ditto on the cute face ... miss seeing it.

And I think it's just lovely that you sing the Doxology at bed time. Each night when I give my son his last bottle, we rock, cuddle, and I pray over him and ask God to place his guardian angels on top, bottom, left, right, and all around him... And it dawned on me ... soon, he'll be old enough to start praying. I began to think about what our prayers will be like, what he will say, and I got all warm and fuzzy inside. I can't wait to hear what cute things he'll come up with!

[Sheri]

If only we could ALWAYS remember to praise him for the odd blessings...

[momrn2]

Thanks for sharing this! What a great, new, fresh, perspective! "Sometimes the odd blessings are the best ones." Too true, too true. Thanks for giving this to me to take into my day.

[Queen Beth]

Shannon, I just love your blog. You really make me see things differently!! :)

[Morning Glory]

When my husband was a little boy, he used to sing "Jesus on a rock is a weary man" instead of "Jesus is a rock in a weary land". Jesus must have gotten very weary at times. I'm glad Jesus is our Rock, because our burdens surely are heavy ones to carry.

[Heth]

Awwww, love it.

[Goslyn]

How adorable. And a good point, to boot.

[Owlhaven]

Shannon, I love this. The trick is to recognize all those odd blessings! That is one of the things I want most for my kids. I drive them batty some days by bursting into song at odd moments, and often it is 'Count your blessings, name them one by one....'

Mary

[Amy in IN]

How cute! And yet, it's another bit of food for thought. Mind if I share that with my ladies' Bible study group? We've been talking a lot about that recently.

[Mama B]

Yes, we praise him for all blessings, odd included! :)
I'm praising HIM for the rain we have right now, even though I can do without it.

[Shalee]

How beautiful that you sing and pray with your children at night! We do the same and it is wonderful to have that connect time, especially on a busy day.

Isn't it wonderful the way that God speaks to us, be it through a child or a song or a scripture or a bird in the air. He is always speaking if we will stop to listen.

Now as a bonus, you probably will never be able to sing that song without thinking of your seven year old child.

[Corina Bowen]

Amen! I am reminded of that Casting Crows song "I will praise Him in this storm." He is always worthy!

[chilihead]

I used to think it was 'don't take God's name insane' instead of 'in vain'. What's your take on that one? ;)

I love these anecdotes and always look forward to reading them.

[Faith]

Amen! I've had some really odd blessings in my life. Praise God!

[Carol]

Could I, on occasion, be an odd blessing to someone?

I'll just keep praising Him in all things!

[Perri]

I have one child now who is obsessed with Toy Story and instead of singing, "worthy is the Lamb" - I hear his voice........
"woody is the man"

[Steph]

"Odd blessings" are good, too :-) LOL!!!

[Ogilvie Hall]

Very true. Many of them don't seem like blessings at all until long after you've survived them.

[Heather]

Priceless, and so true!

[Anne Glamore]

That's perfect- because what you pray for or envision is rarely what you end up with, but often it is so much better!

[Grammy]

I love it - the song, the special "children's version" and your take on that.

When my mother was little, she thought the line "Gladly the cross, I"d bare" Was about a cross-eyed bear named Gladly. When Heather was little, my Mom embroidered him on her jammies.

[JD]

That was a poke at my heart post!!! Thanks.

[Emma aka jennybee]

How sweet! We should be thankful for odd blessings, too. ~giggles~

[kate]

That is so sweet.
One time I played that on the piano and the kids wanted to pass a pretend offering plate around!

[GiBee]

Wow. 26 comments. Now, that's an Odd Blessing!

Must be because you put that cute picture back up!!!

[mimi2six]

How precious and full of truth! Makes me wonder how many of those "odd blessings" I whined and complained about before I realized they were actually hand-picked blessings from my Lord for my good. How patient He is with us.

[Stephanie]

That's great.

[Simply Coll]

amen