How many times a day do you give thanks for the blessing of sight?
Fanny Crosby was six week’s old when she was left blind from a doctor’s treatment to cure an eye infection. Nonetheless, Fanny grew up active and happy surrounded by strong women of faith as she learned how to navigate the world differently than most. At eight year’s old, she composed the poem above and although the poem may not use the grandest of word choices, the wisdom is greater than most people will ever acquire in their lives. To be content and thankful in your circumstances.
Fanny Crosby went on to write more than 8,000 hymns. That’s enough hymns to fill fifteen complete hymnals stacked one on top of the other, enough to cause her publishers to resorts to ascribing to her multiple pen names to make her output more believable.¹
BUT the thing that impresses me the most, beyond her amazing writing abilities, is her attitude and her THANKFULNESS. She was thankful for the blessing of blindness.
“I could not have written ten thousands of hymns if I had been hindered by the distractions of seeing all the interesting and beautiful objects that would have been presented to my notice.” “It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank Him for the dispensation.” A situation that others may see as a curse, Fanny saw it as a blessing!
I wonder about us. What circumstances do we find ourselves in? Maybe we are dealing with situations we may not have asked for or never in a million years wanted?
I wonder what would happen if we could find blessings in what seem to be curses. Contentment in unhappy places. I am not saying we have to love everything that comes our way or we have to be happy every moment in dealing with these things. Grieve, yell, cry, and then breathe. Repeat. When you are ready, try to start to look at things a differently and maybe you will find something, even if it is one little thing to start with, to be grateful for.
Some of the hardest, most difficult circumstances, situations that seemed unfair and definitely most unwanted, have been the situations I have grown from the most and eventually been the ones I have been most thankful for. So, today, I would encourage you to try to look at things with a new view and come up with at least one thing you are thankful for in your current circumstances. I am praying for you! 
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
¹ Demoss, Nancy Leigh. Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy. Moody Press, 2011.
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