I Dreamed I Went to Heaven

*This is a devotional my wife received at a Christmas party she attended. I’m unsure of the original author. Blessings, Ed 😊

I dreamed 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 Station. 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.” Again, I noticed 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 on 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 not 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 over your head and a place to sleep, your are richer than 75% of the 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 message on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who had 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 fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are better off than 700 million people in the world!”

“If you can attend 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.”

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.

Ok, what now? How can I start being more grateful?

Bow your head and thank the Lord for all the ways He’s blessed and is blessing you that you’ve taken for granted. Count your blessings, then determine to bless others by sharing this reminder with someone else who may not be mindful of all the ways they’re being blessed everyday by their Father in heaven!

Food for thought.