Numbers...and the One that Counts the Most!

My mind is reeling with numbers today:

365 new days

A new year (how long will it take me to stop writing 2009)

The few number of hours of sleep last night (the number of snores I heard from my sleeping man)

The number looming on my scale (I just can't go there today)

The number of days since I last exercised (sigh)

The number of wrinkles I am finding on my face (oops there is another one!)

The big 4-0 (am I really?)

Number of followers to my blog (I am so thankful for all of you, my sweet followers, but it is easy to get caught up in the numbers, isn't it?)

The number of posts I have made or not made this last year

The number of emails and phone calls that I need to return

The number of things that I need to add to my new, 2010 calendar (I always love doing this)

Should I join facebook-will I have a huge number of friends like my husband (silly thoughts, I know but I still wonder)

The number of giggles I hear around my house this morning

The number of ways my family expresses their love for me (do I show them how much I love them too?)

Our world is full of numbers...expectations too~do we measure up:

The number of fruits and vegetables we should eat (I much prefer chocolate these days)

The number of times we should brush our teeth, wash our faces, hug each other, laugh, eat....
    too many number things to count.

Numbers can drive us crazy if we let them.  So, this year, instead of trying to focus on numbers or the number of resolutions that I might make and break, I want to try to try to focus on numbers from a different perspective.

"How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways." Elizabeth Barrett Browning penned those words, but hear them in a fresh, new way from your Heavenly Father.

Numbers are important to God too.

He loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son (John 3:16)
He paid the price for our sins, in full, while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8)
He numbers the very numbers on our head  (Matthew 10:30)
The Bible is filled to overflowing with important numbers...so many more than I could possibly list here.
             
The numbers in scripture that I know are:

3 which symbolizes the Trinity and so much more

6 is the number for man
                                                                            
7 means perfection

8 symbolizes "consistently above perfection"  It is perfection plus One....it is Jesus! (Thank you, Dad for teaching me this-I love this new truth!)

Numbers are important.  But what numbers do I value or put the most emphasis on?

I may try to define myself by the number of friends that I have, the number of followers and friends who drop by my blog, the number in my checking account, the number of loads of laundry I have waiting for me, the number on my scale,the number of times we ate out instead of in, the number of times I wished that I had stopped to think before I opened my mouth, the number of missed opportunities to tell someone about what God did for me, the number of times I chose to be defensive instead of humble, the number of times I laughed at myself, the number of hairs that I found in the shower (I have stopped bleaching my hair-why will it not stop falling out), the number of minutes I spent in prayer, the number of hours I spent watching tv or surfing the internet (ouch)....so many numbers that truly don't shouldn't define me...but that I still focus on.

Instead of focusing on the One that does matter and does define me!  I'm going to try to listen as He counts the ways that He loves me....and try to focus on the numbers that He defines me by. 

Rachel brought this scripture to my attention today and I love it.  I thought you might want to read it today too:

Psalm 40:5 "Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare."

Which reminds me of this one:  Psalm 139:17-18, "17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake,
I am still with you.and the One who loves us so!"

And all of my "numbers" fall at the feet of the One who loves me in more ways than I could possible count! What an awesome God!

(Don't forget to enter my giveaway-see yesterday's post if you missed it!)