There are times when it comes to this thing called spirituality that I make things harder than they really are. The thinking behind blessings has been one of them from time to time. This is about as simple a concept as you can get. Yet, I sometimes confuse the issue with abstract reasoning. I mean, haven’t we all been taught that it’s better to give than to receive? Kindness and goodwill are attributes of all of God’s people, Christian or not. Mercy and forgiveness are true staples of the Christian diet. The result is supposed to be a reaping, if you will, of untold rewards for a life spent giving with little to no expectation of getting anything in return. But here’s my point. Life takes over and we learn at an early age that life is cruel, unpredictable and if you don’t watch out for yourself, your kindness will be taken for weakness and your generosity is something to be taken advantage of. Some will testify that life and the people in it will use you, let you down. Pain, more often than not, comes from an attempt to help somebody who doesn’t give a damn about you, someone you love who doesn’t love you back, situations you didn’t create but were drawn into. These are situations and circumstances that have made some good people go bad because, if the truth be told, people will protect themselves and their feelings at all costs. We have all learned how to survive. We’ve learned to do this in a world where it appears nice guys finish last, takers succeed and in order to win, cheating is rationalized.
Then here comes scripture; being saved and that notion of it’s better to give than to receive crops up again. One of my basic premises is that you don’t know what kind of mother you’ll become unless you have a child. Likewise, you don’t know what kind of friend you are until you have a friend. You can’t know the depths of your ability to love until you’re head over heels in it. The point is, you don’t really know yourself until you genuinely share of yourself without fear, without restrictions. It’s the exact definition of unconditional love that I’m talking about. If you can give it, then you can appreciate it being offered to you. Now here comes that thing known as blessings. You cannot be blessed until you become a blessing. There is no chicken egg here. Being a blessing comes before being blessed. It’s just my opinion folks.
I mean it doesn’t appear to work for me any other way. If you go through life just existing based on your personal criteria for love, friendship, being in relationship to others, then what you’ll get is just that; life with strings attached. You can’t expect your prayer life to be answered if it only contains prayers of “gimme.” I actually believe if your prayers don’t include anyone but you and are only a reflection of the trials and tribulations of your life, then how does the saying go? “You’re blocking your own blessings.” I think God shouldn’t have to ask you what you have done for Him lately? The reality of blessings is, what have you done for someone else lately? It’s that made in his image thing. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” John 12:13. Like I said, being a blessing uncomplicates a world full of contradictions. If you let yourself understand the concept of giving by being a blessing, then you are fulfilling a purpose preordained for all of us by God. I know; easier said than done. Just think about God being a blessing to you and you are automatically on the road to becoming blessed. How could you not? May God bless and keep you always.
James, jaws@dallasweekly.com