The Blessing
We focus so often on the events and circumstances in our lives that the magic of a blessing gets lost, unnoticed, or devalued. Blessings hold the mystery of what could have, should have, or would have occurred, but didn’t.
Have you ever tried to describe why something was a blessing to you and found yourself at a loss for words? Have you ever realized that a past something that happened to you actually was a blessing in disguise?
The blessing is orchestrated by God, through people, places, or things in His timing according to His pleasing and His plan for our lives.
Common Blessing Attributes:
So deep you can’t get through it. So high you can’t get over it. So low you can’t get under it. So wide you can’t get around it.
Otherwise, someone would try to package “blessings” and sell it on Amazon!
The best and biggest blessing that God has ever given His people is the gift of Jesus Christ! We celebrate – rekindle the reason for the season – His birth, during Christmas time.
What a festive time Christmas is… until it’s not. Poverty, pride, death, unbelief, hate, racism, and crime, to name a few, have always been distractions from the true meaning of Christmas. These past two years we’ve had to add Covid 19 and its variant cohorts, social distancing, masks, fear, defiance, and numerous accelerated health issues to those distractions. Why do we get it twisted? The blessing of Christmas has nothing to do with economics, political preferences, career status, intelligence, race, gender, physical attributes, or spiritual awareness.
Christmas is a heart blessing! From the heart, all things flow (emotional, physical, and spiritual). It is there, hidden from the view and opinion of spectators, a place that holds our faith and trust in God. Sometimes, we ourselves are not even sure about what needs attention in our inner core. We can know the Christmas story, sing the Christmas songs, buy gifts, decorate all over the place, and incorporate our favorite holiday foods – however, without a heart commitment it’s all for nothing!
The surprising thing about what really lurks in the heart is that junk comes to the surface when its core is tested. Everybody has some junk in the trunk! The enemy of our soul stirs things up to give us opportunity to leave our beliefs. The loss of loved ones, and the condition of our conditions (physical and emotional) – especially around the holidays – can shake a lot of that Christmas cheer and merriment out of our hearts.
I wish I could say that some days won’t be disasters or that people would always do what’s right and all things will work out well. But there are no such guarantees in life, no not ever, not for anyone. Look at the life of unloved Leah wife of Jacob, Ruth’s misfortune before finding her Boaz, and especially Paul who wrote most of the New Testament of the Bible – who was God’s messenger with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 2 Corinthians 11:24-26 New International Version
Finding and keeping peace and joy in spite of the down cycles that are a part of life requires intentional steps of faith.
- Examine what your hope is based on. Does your faith gravitate towards the presents that the Savior gives, or toward His presence in your life?
- Hold onto faith even when it makes no sense at all. Can others see your faith by how you live; or is it so private that it is kept secret from those you interact with?
- Contemplate the sheer infinity of God Almighty, the Creator – against what you think you know. Is this not a foundation to trust the one who holds the world in His hand?
The blessing that we receive with Christmas is in direct correlation to where our focus is directed. While we never deny pain, sorrow, or hurt, focusing on it destroys peace and joy and magnifies the darkness. We can make the choice to push (pray until something happens) into hope, healing, and harmony.
I invite you to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ this year like your life depended on it! Know for yourself that Jesus was more than that sweet little babe in a manger.
1-2 Before anything else existed, there was Christ,* with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. 3 He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make. 4 Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind. 5 His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it. John 1:1-5 The Living Bible (TLB)
Take the blessing, and let it transform your life.
Have a Joyous Merry Christmas!
Thank you Gayle, for all you have said here is true and meaningful. What I wonder is: “Why not have this feeling of continued blessing for more than one day or season?”
Hello Doris, you definitely raise a valid point. I needed another paragraph to bring the point of continued blessings into focus. January’s blog will mention the peace and joy of Christmas for the New Year, without the usual push for goals and mountains of plans. Thank you for you reply, keep visiting the website for more.