Yesterday I celebrated the anniversary of my exit from my mother’s womb and I was blessed.

I was blessed by the gifts and cards from friends and family.

I was blessed by the many birthday greetings.

I was blessed by spending some of the day discerning God’s will for someone.

I was blessed by the arrival of windows in my study conversion.

I was blessed to spend the evening with Sally.

I was blessed when I looked at a selection of vouchers in my wallet to see I had some extra bonus shopping points available if I spent £4 on hair care products even though I am bald – at least someone (a machine) didn’t see it.

I was blessed by these pictures that my family posted on Facebook…

First of all my sister posted this:

(She’s the one with bunches beside me, in the days when I not only had hair but it was curly!)

And then my daughter decided to get in on the act:

(The one on the left was at my farewell party at my previous church when they had to use newspaper to create a new outfit for me to wear as a Regional Minister (I haven’t worn it); the middle one was where I found that I could use the suction in the pig launcher to stick it on my head. I think the third one was in a restaurant where my daughter tried to take a photo of me and I put my tongue out.)

I was blessed by the memories provoked by those photos.

I was blessed by how many people ‘liked’ those photos – I assume that they at least made them smile and that’s a good thing.

I was blessed by the banter that accompanied the photos.

I was blessed by the reminder that little things (like taking a moment to write ‘happy birthday’ on Facebook make a big difference.

I was blessed by seeing how God is at work in the lives of Ministers and churches in our Association.

I was blessed by being able to write a reference for a friend and say how wonderful they are.

I was blessed by knowing that even in some of the difficult circumstances in which I am ministering there is hope because God is involved – and he can do resurrections! Even if life feels sucky and yucky God is with us in it and won’t leave us alone: when we feel like we are sitting on life’s manure heap he comes and sits beside us and shares the misery – that’s amazing grace!

And today I am blessed because I can count so many blessings from yesterday.

Thank you God, and thank you to those of you whom he used to bless me, whether or not you are aware that he did!

Be blessed, be a blessing