I view blessings differently than I used to. First, I’m more grateful, and more apt to recognize blessings after reading an article that chided those who might call the nice things in life “blessings.” Their point was that sometimes things just happen – God is still in control, but having cheaper-than-expected car repairs, or finding the perfect pet companion were things that simply will or won’t happen in the world, and labeling them as blessings would make others (who didn’t get the cheap repairs, or whose dog just died) feel of lesser value to God. I understand what the writer was saying, but I can’t and won’t stop giving God the credit, even for the little things. Maybe it’s just something He allowed life to give me, but even so, He could have prevented it, and who else am I going to thank? I gained a new sense of necessity to remember to thank God, and often, for the things which I have, whether they’re material possessions or things of eternal consequence.
Second, I have discovered that blessings only make me feel less at home here. This is not to be misunderstood as ungratefulness. On the contrary, I have experienced such blessings in my life that I long, even more, to know and see the Giver of those blessings. Being blessed by anything from material possessions, to health, to family and friends, to financial means have nothing to do with resting securely on this earth. They have nothing to do with finding pleasure in the “stuff” of this world. Why would God want His children to be more satisfied here when there is something so much greater waiting for us after this life is over?
I think the more accurate perspective would be that first, God enjoys bringing pleasure to His children. While He will often allow man to follow a path not of His will, and He certainly does many things we do not understand, I believe He finds enjoyment in our smiles. I only say this because we were ultimately made in His image, and as a father enjoys seeing his children happy, I can only conclude that God enjoys loving on His children as well. The other side of the coin is that God also wants us to know Him more. Better. Deeper. I may experience trials. I may experience being broke and sick, and forced to live on the street – but the greatest blessings have nothing to do with my physical needs – they have to do with my spiritual needs. God blesses us with physical contentment not so we can live a life of luxury, but so we can remember to thank Him and realize He’s still in control, and, ultimately, so we will long to be with Him forever.
I won’t stop giving God the credit for even the smallest things. I don’t care if life would have dealt me those same cards anyway. And I also won’t allow the blessings to compromise my perspective by making me too comfortable here on earth. If my neighbor has more than I, it is no reason to feel less valued by God – it’s just another opportunity to thank Him for what I do have, and to thank Him for what’s to come: something better.
No matter the blessing, life here is temporary. The “stuff” of this world will pass away eventually. Nothing lasts – not even the material things God has allowed me to have. Nothing but God and our salvation in Him is forever.
So I will be grateful. But more so for the fact that God loves me than for the fact that I have a level of physical or emotional comfort.
I love hearing from you! Feel free to leave a comment.
5/12/15
5/5/15
Successful Experiment that Failed
I may very well be the only person who has noticed my ever-slowing
additions to this blog. And to be completely honest, I originally
revamped how I did things here as an experiment. I wanted to find out if
a book I read was true – that building an online audience was possible.
And on a small scale, it did work. If I would follow the advice of a
particular best-selling author, I’m sure I could be as successful as she
claims. But here it is: after trying out the whole “build an audience”
thing, I realized it really wasn’t my thing.
Starting out, I decided to quit talking about writing only. I’ve got a few writer friends who might read my posts, but reading about writing can be…rather boring. And I know that. So I stopped. Or rather, I significantly reduced my writing-related articles. I still believe that was a wise move. However, my next decision was to blog on a schedule and talk about a wide array of topics to which my readers could relate. So with those goals, I began blogging about things like my cats. Collecting key chains. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Doodling. You know – things that really matter. As long as I could get my three posts a week in, even if it was sharing a silly YouTube video, I felt successful. And my readership did grow.
But after a while, my enthusiasm waned. Not because I didn’t like telling people about my flowers, Mr. Squirrel, or surviving a smoke alarm disaster, but because I was blogging because I had to. And if I didn’t have anything worth writing about, I’d come up with some shallow information – which may have made readers smile, but I was blogging simply to meet my own schedule and to gain that sought-after readership. That was all.
As usual though, I go against the flow, and I don’t like doing things just because other people like it, or just because it’s the “in” thing. And while my pointless rambles might have been enjoyed to a certain degree, they did little to satisfy me. Seems a little selfish, but in all reality, my blog is about me and what I like. And here’s the thing: I like having points. Generally, I can find a spiritual point in just about any situation since God is just that important to me, or at the very least, I can create a life-application out of the simplest story. Writing about peanut butter and jelly? Cute, but what’s the point? That’s what my Facebook page is for.
Blogging lately has become more about what inspires me, and less about staying on schedule. More about what might encourage or enlighten someone, and less about using anything just to check blogging off my to-do list. As I continue down this path, I’ll probably have fewer readers. As the content steers more away from the everyday blather, those who read my posts may know less about my kitties’ adventures and my taste for Doritos, but they’ll probably gain a better understanding of who I really am. And there are those who might not notice a difference at all, and are, at the moment, wondering what on earth I’m talking about. And that’s okay, too.
Don’t worry – I’ll still have life’s silly adventures documented here, I’m sure. And I'm not trying to eliminate the fun tongue-in-cheek articles that I love to write. But when I’m absent for a while, it’s not because I’ve lost interest. It’s simply because I’m searching for something deeper than Doritos to blog about. I want my readers – however few they may be – to know me, and not just be another number on the chart that shows how many people have read my posts. My initial experiment was a success, no doubt. But numbers don’t define me. So now, I just want to be me, regardless of how big or small my audience is, and focus more on what I like to write about, when I like to write about them.
Starting out, I decided to quit talking about writing only. I’ve got a few writer friends who might read my posts, but reading about writing can be…rather boring. And I know that. So I stopped. Or rather, I significantly reduced my writing-related articles. I still believe that was a wise move. However, my next decision was to blog on a schedule and talk about a wide array of topics to which my readers could relate. So with those goals, I began blogging about things like my cats. Collecting key chains. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Doodling. You know – things that really matter. As long as I could get my three posts a week in, even if it was sharing a silly YouTube video, I felt successful. And my readership did grow.
But after a while, my enthusiasm waned. Not because I didn’t like telling people about my flowers, Mr. Squirrel, or surviving a smoke alarm disaster, but because I was blogging because I had to. And if I didn’t have anything worth writing about, I’d come up with some shallow information – which may have made readers smile, but I was blogging simply to meet my own schedule and to gain that sought-after readership. That was all.
As usual though, I go against the flow, and I don’t like doing things just because other people like it, or just because it’s the “in” thing. And while my pointless rambles might have been enjoyed to a certain degree, they did little to satisfy me. Seems a little selfish, but in all reality, my blog is about me and what I like. And here’s the thing: I like having points. Generally, I can find a spiritual point in just about any situation since God is just that important to me, or at the very least, I can create a life-application out of the simplest story. Writing about peanut butter and jelly? Cute, but what’s the point? That’s what my Facebook page is for.
Blogging lately has become more about what inspires me, and less about staying on schedule. More about what might encourage or enlighten someone, and less about using anything just to check blogging off my to-do list. As I continue down this path, I’ll probably have fewer readers. As the content steers more away from the everyday blather, those who read my posts may know less about my kitties’ adventures and my taste for Doritos, but they’ll probably gain a better understanding of who I really am. And there are those who might not notice a difference at all, and are, at the moment, wondering what on earth I’m talking about. And that’s okay, too.
Don’t worry – I’ll still have life’s silly adventures documented here, I’m sure. And I'm not trying to eliminate the fun tongue-in-cheek articles that I love to write. But when I’m absent for a while, it’s not because I’ve lost interest. It’s simply because I’m searching for something deeper than Doritos to blog about. I want my readers – however few they may be – to know me, and not just be another number on the chart that shows how many people have read my posts. My initial experiment was a success, no doubt. But numbers don’t define me. So now, I just want to be me, regardless of how big or small my audience is, and focus more on what I like to write about, when I like to write about them.
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