This pastor’s heart today?  Simply this: I am a blessed man.  This weekend is clear evidence of that.  Today I have a daughter, my oldest, celebrating a birthday.  Tomorrow I have another daughter graduating from college.  I’m so proud of both of them.  And Sunday is Mother’s Day.  I’ll be able to wish my dear mother a happy one, and I’ll be able to celebrate the godly, beautiful woman who is my wife and the mother of our four children.  And that’s just this weekend.  No doubt about it – I am blessed.  I guess I need to ask you to excuse the personal nature of this week’s note, but I woke up this morning focused on these blessings.  As I look around at the disturbing moral decay in our culture and how it’s even supported by our government, as I see the incredible and confusing back and forth of this election year, as I see the heartache of so many going through deep waters, and as I face my own pressures and trials of life, I see the need to gratefully focus on God’s goodness.  And that’s what my heart is doing this morning.  By the way, where’s your focus today?  I’m sure you have your own set of difficulties to navigate these days, but if you know the Lord, I’m also sure you have many blessings for which you can be grateful.  Remember what King David said in Psalm 40:5?  “Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”  So go ahead; count your blessings!  If you do, you’ll find that gratitude will open the door to the grace needed to deal with the difficulties that are a part of life.  If you don’t….  Well, let’s just say it’s going to be a long weekend for you.  Yes, I am blessed, very blessed.  Extremely and graciously blessed.  And if you will stop, look to God, and think about it, I believe that you’ll find that you are, too.