Which Is It?

Bob came to the front to say a few words before we took up the collection today in church. He said that he worked as a volunteer at Christmas helping hand out coats and food to folks who had need. He told this story about an encounter he had with one woman who had come in for help.

He said he was working there, greeting people as they got ready to pick up their things. He said one woman came up to him and he said, “Hello. How are you today?”

She replied, “I am blessed.”

He said he replied to her, “I am blessed, too.”

He said that afterwards, he thought about what she meant when she said she was blessed versus what he meant when he said he was blessed. This woman had spent over an hour in line, on a cold day, waiting to receive a used coat, a used blanket, and a box of food. “For that,” he said, “She said she was blessed.”

He didn’t say it outright, but as much as said that we tend to consider ourselves blessed if we have three cars, high speed internet, and a 401k that has several hundred thousand dollars in it. This woman considered herself blessed because of a used coat, used blanket, and a box of food that people donated.

When do you consider yourself blessed, and when do you begin to whine a little about how unfair things are and how hard you have it? Is God blessing you when He gives you enough to pay money down on a 24 foot boat and a garage in which to store it? Or is God blessing you when He allows you to wake up in the morning and see the sunrise?