Life of the Beloved: Blessed

Chosen, blessed, broken, and given.

That is the life of the beloved, according to Henri Nouwen. Today we’ll talk about being blessed.

We are blessed.

If this statement sounds false, or at least not the whole truth, that’s okay. But it is true.

The greatest blessing is that God calls you the beloved. But this doesn’t mean that hardship and suffering won’t happen (we’ll talk more about that tomorrow). In fact, God blesses us because hardship will come. God’s blessing is an anchor. It is the foundation on which we build our home. The rain still comes, but our home is built on the rock.

But, I don’t want to convince you that you are blessed. I want to encourage you to listen for God today.

“…the real “work” of prayer is to become silent and listen to the voice that says good things about me…To gently push aside and silence the many voices that question my goodness and to trust that I will hear the voice of blessing– that demands real effort.”

Nouwen didn’t live to see the situation we’re in right now as we shelter-in-place and deal with the ramifications of coronavirus. But, his message would likely be the same today. Listen for the voice that says good things about you. Push aside the voices that question your goodness, your blessedness. One, or perhaps many, of these voices has come from this current pandemic.

Voices that question how well are parenting.

Voices that question God’s presence or sovereignty.

Voices that make you anxiously question every move and decision you make because you have to worry about the spread of this virus.

The noise from these voices distract us from the voice of blessing. These voices are louder and more attention-grabbing. But it’s not just the volume of noise these voices cause that distract us from the blessing. It is also our own decisions to stay busy, because we are uncomfortable with the vulnerability of receiving such a blessing from God or others.

“It is not easy for us, busy people, to truly receive a blessing. Perhaps the fact that few people offer a real blessing is the sad result of the absence of people who are willing and able to receive such a blessing. It has become extremely difficult for us to stop, listen, pay attention, and receive gracefully what is offered to us.”

Find a time today to “gently push aside and silence the many voices that question [your] goodness.” When you do so, you will hear the voice that blesses you, that “says good things about” you. This time will take you away form your busy-ness and lead you to the voice of blessing.

In this time, listen for the blessing. Then, when you’ve heard it, pray for God to lead you to bless another. We are blessed to be a blessing (which we’ll discuss more Thursday). Offer someone else a blessing. That can take many forms, and God will lead you to the right one. It could be texting someone to say, “I’m praying for you.” It could be sending a card. It could be making a phone call to say, “I was just thinking about you…” It could be a porch drop-off of a small gift or groceries.

Ultimately, our ability to bless another not only reminds the recipient of their blessing, it also returns us to our own.

Find that time today.