Countdown to 2012...11 days to go

As the year comes to an end, there is this hunch which is normal that makes us look back on how well we have done this year in comparison with our set targets. Some smile, some regret, some feel fulfilled, some do not.

Businessmen request for their statements of account for reconciliation.

Some individuals try to 'quickly' achieve what they couldn't over the past 11months.

Everyone wants to close with a profit.

The truth is life is not perfect and the fact still remains that not all fingers are equal. We shouldn't measure our success with the successes or failures of others, neither should we measure it by our own outrageous standards. As long as you did your best this year and lived a worthy life, (no matter the results) you should be thankful.

Well as for me, I would just be thankful because I cannot kill myself...2011 will definitely end and 2012 will definitely come... I did my best, though I didn't get all I hoped for. I didn't get all I prayed for and got wonderful things that never crossed my mind.

I wrote this article 'Giving thanks' 2 months ago but still want to share it, enjoy...

We receive blessings when we give thanks. David gave thanks to God and we

all know how God lavished him with blessings. Also when Jesus wanted to

feed the 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, He first gave thanks. However as humans that we are, we tend to submerge our prayers with what we want or don’t want from God forgetting to thank Him for what we have received.

In some cases we do not thank God for things we are so accustomed to experiencing or having. Things such as waking up in the morning, our regular going out and coming

in, our good health, our friends, our beauty, to mention a few. ‘Thanks’ in the sense that, it is not heartfelt. We just utter the words 'thank you Lord for ...’ without actually feeling the gratitude deep in our hearts. Sometimes we complain and cry incessantly over our present situations that it takes over the times we could use to appreciate God’s goodness.

We complain about the traffic instead of thanking him for an accident-free journey; we complain about the weather instead thanking him that we are alive to experience it.

There was a day I was hanging out with two friends and as we were chatting away, one of them kept on chipping in how over-protective her father was. She kept on expressing how fed up she was with her father's excessive control.

The other lady obviously tired of her complaints asked her, ‘do u want to trade places?'

Baffled, she asked, 'how do you mean?'

The lady replied, 'my father is late, do want to trade places?'

All she could say was, 'oh!' and immediately stopped complaining.

We should not let our circumstances, needs or wants overshadow our ability to thank God because it is the window the devil uses to make us feel frustrated and discontented. And a frustrated person cannot truly give thanks thus narrows the door to receiving God's blessing. The road to true happiness is giving heartfelt thanks to God every moment, everyday, for everything. We should make it a habit to give thanks always.

‘Thanks’ that originates from the heart; ‘thanks’ that reminds us of God's never ending goodness which produces a burning desire in us to make us do all we can to please him and in turn, gain His favours.

In effect, let us use the remaining part of this year as an opportunity to show God how grateful we are for everything He has done for us, so more and more blessings will be poured out on us. AMEN!