Sunday, December 21, 2008

What Happens In Heaven

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, 'This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.' I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.The angel then said to me, 'This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them.' I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. 'This is the Acknowledgment Section,' my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed.

'How is it that there is no work going on here?' I asked. 'So sad,' the angel sighed. 'After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments .'

'How does one acknowledge God's blessings?' I asked.

'Simple,' the angel answered. Just say, 'Thank you, Lord.'

'What blessings should they acknowledge?' I asked.

'If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy . And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ... You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day . If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... You are ahead of 700 million people in the world. If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world . If your parents are still alive and still married ...you are very rare . If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.'

Ok, what now? How can I start? If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all. Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

ATTN: Acknowledge Dept.:
'Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people to share it with.'

20 comments:

Cassie said...

Aw, this is a nice story. We do often forgot to be thankful. I'm guilty of focusing on what I need, as opposed to what I have sometimes. I'm going to work on that! The earrings haven't come yet. It's such a busy time of year for the post though.

Unknown said...

BEAUTIFUL post!
Merry Christmas

LadyStyx said...

Wonderful share. Merry Christmas!

Mama Wheaton said...

Merry Christmas. Taking the time to count my blessings and then give thanks, one by one.

Intense Guy said...

Merry Christmas Queenie...I've a lot to be thankful for...including grits.

May you and yours have a splendid holiday and may the new year bring you lots of joy and happiness.

ChicagoLady said...

That is so true! The very things that many people take for granted are the very things we should be thanking God for. Thank you for sharing this with all of us. Merry Christmas!

*Thank you Lord, for all my wonderful bloggy friends*

Anonymous said...

I love that! It sure puts it all in perspective, doesn't it?

Unknown said...

What a beautiful story! Merry Christmas!

Linda S said...

I love this post...thanks for sharing...

Grand Pooba said...

Much needed post!

Tara Bennett said...

Lovely. Thanks for sharing Jeannie!

Anonymous said...

I am very thankful for all of my blessings. Thank you for reminding me.

Deanna said...

Awesome share! We all need to stop and reflect and be thankful for all the good things in life.
"Thank you God for all the wonderful people in my life, and especially for all my zany, crazy, sensitive, wonderful bloggy friends"

Unknown said...

Amen say thank you everyday!

Kristen said...

Thanks for sharing this message

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

tiki_lady said...

I loved this. One of the things that come naturally to me is the ability to always be grateful and express my gratitude and thanks to HF no matter how small and contrite. Thank you for the great reminder to always be thankful!

Belle (from Life of a...) said...

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog...I'm tickled to discover yours and will be back to visit often. Happy Holidays!

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's beautiful. Thank you so much; it was well received.

And happy holidays!

Shan G said...

We should all be thankful for what we have now, not what we wish we had.

I thank God every day for His love, forgiveness & grace. And for my husband & daughter.

We have a roof over our heads, food in the fridge & my husband has a job to go to every day. Although his bosses need a dose of being thankful & not worrying so much about the bottom line & more worrying about how their employees are doing (yesterday was my husband's first day off since December 6th.) He has been working 12 hr days, every day since Thanksgiving.

Good for a paycheck & Christmas shopping, bad for his health & our baby girl missing Daddy.

Merry Christmas to you and you family, Queenie Jeannie! I hope it is wonderful & filled with love.

Lilly said...

Great post and a wonderful reminder of how much we have to be thankful for. I hope you are your family have a blessed and joyous Christmas.