Look Backward, But Forward Also: Count Your Blessings and Be Thankful
Numbers 6:22–27; Galatians 4:4–7; Luke 2:16–21
One of the spiritual disciplines we often forget is the simplest and yet the most demanding: to count our blessings and to give thanks. We are very skilled at counting our problems, measuring our fears, and naming what is lacking. But today’s readings, on this first day of 2026, invite us to reverse that habit and to learn again the holy art of gratitude.
Our first reading invites us to recogise that blessing comes before asking; it is a prevenient grace. God does not ask the people to pray for a blessing. He commands that they be blessed. The Lord instructs Moses and Aaron to pronounce blessing over Israel—before battles, before failures, before successes. “The LORD bless you and keep you.”
“The LORD make his face shine upon you.” “The LORD give you peace.” This means that gratitude is rooted in what God has already done, not only in what we hope He will do. The people are blessed simply because they belong to God. When God says, “I will put my name upon them,” He is saying: You are mine.
If we counted carefully, we would discover that long before we asked, God was already blessing, already keeping, already giving peace. Gratitude begins when we recognize that our lives are lived under the shining face of God, not under chance or misfortune.
According to our second reading, the greatest blessing has already been given – redemption and adoption as children of God! Saint Paul reminds us of the greatest blessing of all: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son.” God did not send an explanation for suffering. He did not send a new set of rules. He sent His Son. Through Christ, we are redeemed—not merely improved, but liberated. And more than that, we are adopted. Paul says we are no longer slaves, but sons and daughters, heirs of God.
If we paused long enough to let this truth sink in, gratitude would overflow. To be able to say “Abba, Father” is itself a blessing beyond measure. Many things in life can be taken away, but this cannot: we belong to God.
Thankfulness grows when we realize that our faith is not about earning God’s favor, but about receiving it. Everything else we thank God for flows from this one gift: we are His children.
Our gospel reading wants to learn to be grateful to God for blessings received and anticipated. The shepherds go in haste to Bethlehem. They find exactly what was promised: a child lying in a manger. Nothing spectacular—just a baby, poverty, simplicity. Yet their response is unmistakable: they return glorifying and praising God.
The shepherds teach us something important: gratitude is born from recognizing God’s presence in ordinary places. God did not meet them in a palace, but in a feeding trough. And still, they knew they had been blessed.
Mary, too, shows us another form of gratitude. She treasures and ponders. Gratitude is not always loud; sometimes, it is quiet, reflective, and faithful. To count one’s blessings is to hold them in the heart and remember what God has done.
It is very important to learn to count our blessings. If we truly counted our blessings today, what would we name? The blessing of being kept alive and protected, often without knowing how. The blessing of being called children of God. The blessing of God’s presence in our ordinary, fragile lives. The blessing of peace—not the absence of trouble, but the assurance that God is with us.
Gratitude changes everything. It does not deny hardship, but it reframes life through faith. A thankful heart sees gifts where others see only routine. A grateful soul discovers that God has been generous all along.
Today’s readings invite us to live differently: not as people who are always waiting for something more, but as people who recognize how much has already been given. Count your blessings. Name them.
Treasure them. And like the shepherds, return to your daily lives of 2026 glorifying and praising God.
For when we learn to be thankful, we discover the truth: God has blessed us more than we can ever count.
Happy and Prosperous New Year, 2026, to one and all!