I'm Blessed
Hey All –
The holidays are fast approaching. Soon most of us will be feasting on turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Not too far down the road, we’ll be huddled around a beautifully decorated Christmas tree, shearing colorful paper from our presents. One week later, we’ll watch, a previously recorded, flashy, glass ball tell us it’s 2006. These events happen once a year, every year, for the rest of our lives; and, subsequently, at some points, make us absolutely crazy. Long lines, no parking, disasters in turkey preparation, and relatives who stay just a little too long, all lend themselves to, what I have decided to call, holiday psychosis. It won’t plague you every year, just most years. So where now is the meaning in the holidays? How do we get back to the original point? While I was at my soul sucking retail job this last week I was allowed a moment of providence. In the most genuine way possible I attempt to greet every character that enters the store. Usually I say something like, “How you doing today?” or if there’s more than one person I’ll use, “How ya’ll doing today?” and if by some miracle I’m actually in a good mood I’ll speak a little more excitedly, “What’s up fellas (or ladies)?”
As you might imagine, it’s not quite the inspiring vocation that youth work or writing happens to be for me. Retail is monotonous, and much like the holidays, we can often get swept away in the “busywork” losing our grasp on connecting to being sincere in the moment. But, on a day like any other, a man like any other, walked in the store’s entrance. “How you doing today pal?” - Me. But his reply about knocked me onto my rear-end. Here’s what he said, with sincerity, he looked right into my eyes, and stated, “I am blessed, friend”. I spent about ten minutes with this guy, outfitting him in a sharp set of clothes for a wedding his sister was in. He told me that, he preferred a burgundy shirt, since it “highlighted his chocolate skin”, he said he was going for a “raspberry truffle look”, we both laughed. Then he was gone. I didn’t get any sense of what he did, or what his story was; but, as he walked out the door, a small little cocoa colored girl collided with his leg, throwing her arms around his knees, her braided pigtails digging into his trousers. “Hi baby”, he said, as he took her hand. Sincerely, this man changed my life, and speaks directly to what some of my youth spoke about recently, “Living our faith through OUTLOOK and OUTREACH”. Isn’t that what the difficulty with the holidays? Our Outlook. Do we take the time to count our blessings? Or, do we focus on, simply, what isn’t perfect?
In the coming weeks, I would encourage everyone to take time to focus on what he have, not even what we get. Let’s try and remove all the cards, the food, the presents, and remember what these holidays mean. Thanksgiving: giving thanks for Christ, our family, our friends, and our good fortune. Christmas: the birth of our savior, and our leader, an opportunity grow closer to those we care about. New Years: an opportunity to start over, to remove the negative, and to make a better year than last. A year of blessings, not obstacles. We are blessed to have in our lives people that love us, a God who died for us, and a future full of adventure and possibility. But it doesn’t stop with just us, how can you then go into the world and spread this blessing? I pray this is not the end to our ministry, that, in some way, we prepare others to live their lives with an outlook of blessing, one that is contagious. An outlook that spreads around their social spheres in a turbulent ripple that crashes into the hearts of those who cannot see the positivity in life. As Psalm 67:1 says, “God, mark (you) with grace and blessing. Smile!”
Peace,
Ben