Just say it…”I’m blessed”
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26
This verse is very familiar to us. It is often used in churches as the benediction. Have you really stopped to consider the awesomeness and the powerfulness of the verse?
The Israelites were getting ready to move toward the promised land and were going into battle. God commanded the high priest Aaron to pronounce this blessing over the people. Aaron told them that God was bringing good things to them personally; that He was protecting them; that the Lord was delighted with them and giving them grace; that God was giving them His undivided attention and giving them peace.
Let that soak in…
I think we sometimes get bogged down with every day “stuff”, and we forget how blessed we are. We forget how special we are to God, and that He is always there for us. We go through days doing and saying the same old things. We have our familiar complaints and things to gripe about.
A couple of months ago, I was at the hospital for an MRI on my knee. My appointment was for 11:00 PM. By that time of day, I was tired and rather grumpy about the time of my appointment. I was sitting on a bench in a back hallway when a cleaning woman came that way. She spoke to me and asked how I was? I told her I was fine (standard answer), and asked how she was? She said, “I’m blessed”. Whoa! That got my attention!
For the past couple of months, I have thought about that woman. I have thought about how pleasant she was. If I had been her, I’m pretty sure I would have responded that it was not great having to be working at that time of day. But she didn’t. She responded that she was blessed.
Let’s try an experiment – for the next month, whenever someone asks how you are, try responding, “I’m blessed”. I will do this with you. Let’s see if or how this changes us.
Let us pray – Gracious God, help us to see the blessings you have given us. Help us have impact on others by being grateful for our blessings.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen
Belinda Bullard