I'm back in Ann Arbor from a wonderful trip to Florida! My apartment is becoming more and more homey each day. Yesterday, I bought a nice wooden mahogany coffee table off Craigslist and it's amazing how it transformed my living room. My project this week is to choose a paint color for my living room walls after which I'll get a living room rug, pin cushions for my couches, and maybe some wall art.
The business trip to Florida was amazing. The first couple of days I spent in West Palm Beach. Wednesday, Marta drove up from Miami to go to the beach with me, then that evening I had dinner in Ft. Lauderdale with my boss and her brother. The rest of the week I spent in Naples. I ate a lot of seafood and enjoyed 80 degree weather everyday. I tanned almost every afternoon. I dined at some high-class restaurants, and stayed at the Marriott and the Hilton.
This week made me think about what it meant to "be blessed." I remember back in the youth group days when we used to go around in a circle and share with others why we were blessed. We were encouraged to share answers such as "I'm blessed because I have a roof over my head" or "I'm blessed because I have food to eat." Well, last week I was sitting in a nice restaurant, rubbing shoulders with rich old folks, when I realized the temptation to call myself blessed because I have access to these materialistic things. Somehow, I felt that being blessed doesn't mean riches or education. It doesn't mean food on the table or even a roof over our head. Or does it?
I feel that the Biblical use of "blessed" on one hand focuses on the eternal. In the Beatitudes, Jesus is obviously referring to the eternal. "blessed...because theirs is the Kingdom of God." But then, in Job, the Lord "blessed" the latter part of Job's life how? By increasing his material riches.
So what does it mean to be blessed? I'm not quite sure. Any thoughts?
101 update:
Task 58: Go to the beach. Marta and I meant to go to Juno Beach in Florida. We got lost on the freeway and stopped by an Applebees for lunch. Our very exuberant waitress directed us to Singer's Beach. It was a lot smaller, but still fun.
Task 78: Keep to my budget for 2 months. This was difficult to do with a lot of unexpected expenses popping up. Luckily, with tax returns, etc, I was able to pay off the extra expenses with the extra money coming in (not ideal, of course...next year I'll save my extra income). I also had to give up that massage and scuba-diving in Florida to stick to my monthly budget. =(
Task 90: Take the bus to work. I have to do that now I live way off campus and still refuse to pay for a parking space on campus. Also, UM students and employees now can take the AATA for free. It's pretty fun and stress-free to take the bus - except today, when I missed the bus because I forgot my ID badge in my apartment.
1 comment:
I think (especially in the OT) that God often uses material wealth to talk about blessing, in addition to the spiritual/eternal side. you already mentioned Job. there are a plethora of other examples, one of the more recently famous being Jabez.
my question is how do we differentiate blessing from say, all of creation? i mean, if grace is unmerited favor and mercy is unmerited pardon, is blessing "grace plus"
God gives us good things. so blessing = good thing from God?
shrug. i dunno about parsing the defintion, but i do know that God is exceedingly good, and that he blesses me all the time.
-john
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