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Add to FavoritesI've received too many blessing in my life to seriously doubt that God grants them.
Most people I've encountered who take issue with this position define "blessing" differently from the way I do. They tend to focus on the biggest dramas of life: reunions of twins separated at birth, winning millions in a lottery or awakening 15 years after falling into a coma. I, on the other hand, refer to these as miracles.
Naysayers grumble that nothing good every happens to them. They complain that God never blesses them with anything. If they were once happier, more prosperous or healthier, they now feel abandoned. They have forgotten how to identify a blessing.
Any list of blessings I might jot down includes both the dramatic and the little things I suppose others take for granted. When you experience one or more chronic illnesses, even the little stuff feels important. So here's the beginning of a list:
1. Leaving the Pentagon for a job in a nearby building shortly before the plane hit on 9/11.
2. Being hospitalized 100 times yet remaining able to earn a living.
3. Marrying the nicest guy in the world.
4. Rearing an intelligent, self-supporting daughter.
6. Rescuing and caring for 12 cats.
7. Being able to retire early to care for a terminally ill pet.
8. Writing, which is short for doing what I've always wanted to do.
9. Having doctors who employ real people, not recordings, to answer their office phones.
10. Being able to work just part-time.
If you accept the definition of a blessing as a special bestowing of grace, you will probably begin to recognize that you've received millions of them in your life, whether you're 16 or 65. I am grateful for the several times I've avoided backing into a car I didn't see, all the occasions when I located my lost office keys in time to avoid being late to work and all the opportunities I've had to vote and express my preferences.
I am blessed with a roof over my head, a well-stocked refrigerator, a car that takes me to and from work, half a dozen excellent doctors and above-average medical insurance. And I have the purring of four "inside" cats to reassure me that I did the right thing when I rescued them as feral kittens.
People who readily acknowledge their blessings are pretty easy to spot. They smile a lot. Zillions of their co-workers appear to know them by name and always have something good to say about them. They radiate calm and are thankful for even small favors that come their way. Everybody around them seems to know them well, yet during a conversation, they seem to do most of the listening.
When life throws a series of curve balls such as serious illness or loss of a job, it's easy to forget that you received any blessings from God. I have always found it helpful to begin each day by repeating at least five blessings I recognize in my life at that moment. This helps start my day on a calm, grateful note. And by the time I reach number five, I usually think of five more waiting to be acknowledged.
Learn more about this author, Vonda Sines.
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No
"God so love the world that he sent his only begotten son". His greatest blessing to us all. Jesus Christ gave his life for our salvation. His ultimate gift to us.
I grew up as a Roman Catholic. Throughout my younger days I would go to church every Sunday and church holidays. I have observed and practice the sacraments. I pray and ask for God's blessings in every choice and action I make. In my high school days, I serve our parish in every capacity I can. Not only in church rituals and ceremonies but also in community works. I must have been a good Christian.
I grew up believing that Life is simple. Be good. Do good. Pray to God Almighty and his blessings will come. God's blessings will always flow from his immeasurable love. My refuge.
When we grow, so does our awareness of the world around us. As the problems around me encroached my comfort zone, I have to confront the reality that the world is not how I imagine it to be, I come from a third world country. A religious nation. But what I see is corruption all around. Oppression of civil and human right is predominant. Where the powerful and the rich can just do about anything they want with utmost hypocrisy and intolerance. Why does God not punish them? Instead He has has blessed them so much.
I have questioned the idea that if we do good, then God's blessing will always follow. Then it must also follow that He punishes evil and wickedness or He would be an unjust God. All around us, we see a world where evil dominates. Where people kill with impunity in whatever rationale they have. A world where the innocent and helpless is suffering as seen in the displacement of multitudes because of conflicts in ideology. Where the poor are getting poorer and the hungry hungrier. Is God not heeding our prayers for his blessings to come and save us? Or is the world becoming too evil that he has abandoned us or even punish us?
The thought of him abandoning and punishing us just doesn't make sense. How could he? When we are all his creation; His children. Or am I just believing in the wrong concept of God?
If he doesn't punish the evil for their sins, then it's not logical that he rewards the good with his blessings. What if he doesn't really intervene in our lives? That our freewill allows us to do whatever we want to do. A world where both evil and good are integral part of the natural order of things. Just as a predator is not evil because he eats his prey.
As human beings though, we have a different level of consciousness. We are linked by our common goodness. We detest evil and glorify goodness. It is just that blessings are born out of our individual efforts to do to the best of our abilities in whatever we want if it is not contrary to the common good. Just as we don't have to ask God to punish evil. It is for us to act collectively as God's children to not allow evil to prosper. Our destiny is in our hands. Our Blessings is how we make of it.
I would like my God to be like this. I am much more at peace with this idea.
Learn more about this author, B.J. Tolentino.
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