Meaningful Blessings
Written by Esther Hu
Many years ago, a good friend of mine was getting married. We were invited to her house for a bridal shower to celebrate her farewell to being single and also to share her joy of getting wedded. In addition to all of us close friends, her sister was present that day. We chatted after dinner and one friend proposed that each of us say a blessing to her. The blessings cannot be spoken recurrently so that she may get all sorts of different blessings.
We all agreed and one after another uttered our heartfelt blessings to her. Some wished her a wonderful marriage and affection between the couple. Others wished her to have a baby soon and to see many grandchildren in her lifetime. After a noisy and joyful moment, her sister shook her head and said, “All your blessings are so superficial. In reality, as long as the bride and the groom can bless each other often after they get married, she will receive the truly meaningful blessings.”
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What are meaningful blessings? At the time, all of us girls were too young to know the significance of what she said. Thus we asked her to elaborate more.
Her sister, who had been married for a number of years, smiled and said, “To bless each other indicates not to ask your most significant other to adapt to your lifestyle but rather to learn to do the other way around. As a result, you will help each other and in turn, both sides will receive the meaningful blessings.”
Being single at the time, I could not catch the connotation of her words. After getting married and being a mother myself, I am now able to comprehend what she said about “meaningful blessings.”
Self Blessings
After God created the heavens, the earth and the human being, the first thing He did was bless the man and the woman. Not only did God want them to enjoy the abundance of all his creation, but he also entrusted them with a responsibility, that is, to manage the earth properly. Thus, meaningful blessings do not equate reaping with slothfulness. Instead, we ought to care for the world we live in and be responsible for running it as it should be. Subsequently, we taste the bitter sweetness in doing so.
Therefore, if we really want to bless ourselves, we need to know our value in the eyes of God in order to establish an optimistic, positive and confident lifestyle. In addition, we need to rejuvenate ourselves in all aspects, not only to improve our lives but also to benefit others. Thus, if we aspire for blessings, we do not seek for patronage or expect the unexpected in our daily life. Rather, we need to often bless ourselves so that the lamps of our hearts are constantly overflowed with oil. Consequently, we are able to enjoy a full life and make ourselves a beacon to shed light on others. Additionally, we make ourselves a blessing for others.
Appropriate Blessings
We yearn to pass blessings to our spouse and children. However we are perplexed as we sometimes do not find the right channel. We feel deeply hurt because they are not as receptive as we thought or they are too hardened to accept the blessings. Facing these circumstances, shouldn’t we mull over first whether or not these blessings match their character, interest and capability?
There is a person in the Bible named Jacob, who is the ancestor of the Israelites. When he blessed his twelve children, he blessed them according to what each one was capable of receiving. In other words, he blessed their future based on their individual nature and character. Hence, we must be confident that each of us was embedded with special blessings from God when He created us. Thanks to these blessings, each of us has unique character, interest, and talent. We are sure to bring meaningful blessings to ourselves, our families and friends and others that surround us directly or indirectly through our respective unique nature.
Help and Support
Realizing the above, we do not easily try to make our spouse a “model husband” or a “model wife”. Neither do we seek to plan our children’s future nor discipline them harshly. Instead, we examine them with a thankful heart and look for special blessings and gifts from God. We use positive encouragement to help them bring forth their talents. When they get discouraged, we assist and support them.
A lot of people narrowly equate blessings with beauty, intelligence, knowledge and a smooth sail in life. Yet the wise and insightful appreciates that meagerness and weakness are God’s blessings in disguise. Haven’t you heard the saying, “A mishap may turn out to be a fortune”?
Blessings are part of the nature of God but help and support are precisely the most meaningful blessings from Him. When we search our surroundings, we clearly find every corner of our path is permeated with all kinds of meaningful blessings. By these blessings, we are able to live a vivacious and powerful life full of love while we sing with gratitude to God and to the world a hymn, “God is full of blessings”.
