Genesis 12:2-3   2 "I will make you into a great nation  and I will bless you;  I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.   3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." 

In these times, it seems the world is focused on how things are not working as they should be.  People are losing their jobs, their homes and their sense of what was certain is gone.  If you caught up, there is more bad news everywhere you look.  I found myself getting very annoyed, the bad appeared to outweigh the good.  People seemed to be making choices that negatively impacted other people without giving it much thought.  Every company is only a collection of people and the companies seemed to be making bad decisions as well.  I had to be reminded that God is still in the blessing business as God has been since the beginning of time.

I am exceedingly blessed in these times as in all others.  Money and comfort don't define the total of my blessings.  Praise the Lord, my bills are paid...today.  Tomorrow, I will Praise the Lord again.  Recognizing my blessings and focusing on them helps to expand my joy.  (LOL).

Another thing that helped me to gain another perspective it to pray for others.  This is not simply to pray for those less fortunate than myself.  I need to pray for those more blessed than I am.  We all need the cover and protection of the Lord.  Praying for others takes my mind off of myself and enables me to think how can I be blessing to others.  After all, God has blessed me so that I may be a blessing.  As we know from Luke 12:48 "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

Now, I'm not going to kid myself or anyone else into believing I no longer get annoyed.  I just am doing a better job of using that energy to focus on what God would have me to do and to actually do it.  Faith and actions work together.  James 2:26 "...so faith without deeds is dead."

The bonus is that we don't every have to act alone and we are never alone.  Our God is still is still in the blessing business even in times such as these.  What a comfort and a stress relief.