Sometimes we may be tempted to think that God doesn’t love us, or that God loves other people more than us.
We might base this assumption on the thought that other people have more or better “stuff.”
Yet, if we truly stopped to think about it, God has given us many blessings, though we don’t always see it.
God’s many gifts in our lives
St. Francis de Sales meditates on this spiritual reality in his Introduction to the Devout Life.
First he encourages the reader to think of the many material gifts God has given us:
Consider the material gifts God has given you—your body, and the means for its preservation; your health, and all that maintains it; your friends and many helps. Consider too how many persons more deserving than you are without these gifts; some suffering in health or limb, others exposed to injury, contempt and trouble, or sunk in poverty, while God has willed you to be better off.
Often we will think that we are poor, but then we meet someone who is much more worse off than us. This reminds us that we should not complain as much as we do.
St. Francis de Sales then turns to all of the spiritual gifts God has bestowed upon us:
Further, consider His spiritual gifts. You are a child of His Church, God has taught you to know Himself from your youth. How often has He given you His Sacraments? what inspirations and interior light, what reproofs, He has given to lead you aright; how often He has forgiven you, how often delivered you from occasions of falling; what opportunities He has granted for your soul’s progress! Dwell somewhat on the detail, see how Loving and Gracious God has been to you.
After we go through such a spiritual exercise, our first response should be to give thanks to God for his gifts and to recognize the goodness of God:
Marvel at God’s Goodness. How good He has been to me, how abundant in mercy and plenteous in loving-kindness! O my soul, be thou ever telling of the great things the Lord has done for thee!
If you ever find yourself thinking that God loves other people more than you, stop and think of the many blessings he has given you.
Our entire life is a gift from God. What we need to do is recognize that reality and see his love active in our lives.
