What it means to be blessed

What does it mean to be blessed?  Jesus says it means being poor in spirit, meek, merciful, persecuted, insulted or hungry—probably not the definition of blessed that I would have written up myself.  When I think of blessed, I think of good circumstances, a happy heart and being void of worry.  But that’s not always reality.  God never promises a life without hardship.  He does, however, see us.  He sees our life in the good times and the bad times, and He knows us.  God wants to bless our lives.  So He sees us when we’re tired, lonely, and hurt and He offers Himself to make us whole.

One thing Jesus does tell us is to “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).  As a Christian sometimes I feel guilty asking for God to bless me.  I feel like I should be spending my prayers asking God to bless others, who are probably much more deserving and needing of blessings.  Reading the Beatitudes, I realize in the same way God wants to bless others, He genuinely wants to bless me too.  It’s a matter of me having the faith to ask and then confidently believe that I will receive.

I have always loved the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12).  The litany of blessings due to those who often seem defeated and left behind in today’s world is comforting and inspiring.  In 2021, I’m most struck by blessed are those who mourn.  The last 16 months have been filled with sorrow for many people all over the world due to the pandemic.  So many are mourning a father, a mother, a partner, a baby, a co-worker.  The list seems to go on and on.  I pray that they’re comforted, that they feel wrapped in encouragement and support.  As Saint Paul writes, “… the Father of compassion and the God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction.” (2 Corinthians 1:1-7).  We have to do what we can when we confront sorrow even if it seems as if it’s not enough.  What do you say to someone who has lost a friend, a parent, a child?  Words seem not enough, but I pray to that Father of compassion to encourage me to overcome my hesitation over the right thing to say.

The Beatitudes that start with the merciful and meek end with a sobering tone:

“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.

Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

It isn’t easy to follow Jesus, to live a life as a peacemaker, to live as someone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness.  Life is hard, but we have to remember God’s encouragement when we’re afflicted.  And we have to remember to pass on that encouragement to others when they’re afflicted.  My prayer today is to remember to be merciful, to comfort those who mourn, to respect those who are meek and those who are clean of heart.  And let me be a peacemaker yet stand up for what is right.