blessed

Very often in today's society people talk about being blessed. It always intrigues me.

People say they are blessed because...
they have a great job.
Or a great spouse.
Or great kids.
Or a great house.
Or a great education.
Or a great amount of money in order to please themselves.
Or.....

But what does it all mean?

To use that measure for blessing, people would say I might not be blessed. I am a stay at home mom. Hardly glamorous. Hmmm kids? I got what everybody thinks is the American dream... a girl and a boy. And then the unthinkable happened. Now I have my girl. Am I less blessed* because I lost a child? We've never moved from the house we bought when we hadn't been married very long, even though we could if we wanted to. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I got frustrated when people talk about being 'blessed' and these material things are the the only things on their list. Lost man can say all of those things. What about the spirit? I know a person who has much less according to the world's standards, but has a very intimate, beautiful relationship with God. Who is more blessed?

And yet blessing doesn't always come in a nice, neat little package labeled 'blessing', does it?

Here is part of Matthew 5.

¹When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.

²He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,

³"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

⁵"Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

⁶"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

⁷"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

⁸"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

⁹"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

¹⁰"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

¹²"Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

With every blessing in these verses, comes the real blessing. But this isn't really the way we want to receive blessing most of the time.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Ephesians 1:3. (italics mine)

Sometimes life's blessings come wrapped up in struggle, much like in the verses above. But look at what beautiful spiritual reward awaits those who's lives are touched by what we see as struggle.

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*I put a little star up in the post by a particular thought. Every time I hear someone say they are blessed because of the size of their family, that is my first thought. I feel very blessed to have been chosen to be the mother of my son. The son God chose to take. The experience was very rich in growth and beautiful because I saw God's hand in so many things. And He grew me in so many ways and I came away from the 'ordeal' sad and grieving yes, but also blessed for having come to know Him in such a wonderful way before and during the experience.

What spiritual blessing has come your way of late?