I come from a family of blessers. Not the “Bless your heart” kind, although they’re around me, too. I’m talking about good people who do things to bless others. I learned from the best.
And so I’m a blesser, too. I enjoy doing “little things” (or big ones, when possible) to bless other people. But I’ve noticed that we blessers often have a problem: We have a hard time letting others bless us.
Since last Friday, Renaissance Man and I have been on the receiving end of the blessings spectrum. Big blessings. Never-imagined blessings. One hundred percent undeserved blessings. We’ve had lots of opportunities to practice gratitude.
A member of a Hope Unlimited for Children partner church in South Carolina is the developer/owner of The Cliffs Preserve in Patagonia, Chile. He asked us to come to Chile to consult with an orphanage his resort supports in nearby Los Muermos. We can do that.
He invited us to stay at the resort as his guests… with a huge villa all to ourselves… and anything we desire only a request away. Um, that’s a bit more uncomfortable.
Of course, we shook our heads in amazement and started planning our trip, but final dates were “last minute” in hopes our friend could join us. Unfortunately, he couldn’t. When he told Renaissance Man he wouldn’t be able to come, he gave him the name of the resort manager who would be our contact – and then he blessed us by saying, “I want you and Susan to spend time walking the beach, relaxing, and spending time in prayer.” We can do that.
We arrived at the 8,000-acre wilderness preserve last Friday and had two days of blessed weekend relaxation before beginning meetings with city officials and orphanage staff today. We actually got a peek at the orphanage program shortly after arriving; can’t wait to tell you more soon!
Renaissance Man’s and my concerns about “subservient wait staff” often found at places like this were totally unfounded. Every person we’ve met has had an obvious servant’s heart, but they’ve treated us like family; engaging in table conversation, laughing with us when we accidentally speak in Portuguese instead of Spanish, and sharing their beautiful world with us. They are blessing us by being so open-armed, and hopefully we are blessing them with our budding friendship.
What about you? Do you sometimes find it hard to let others bless you?
Do you have a hard time believing God wants to bless you?
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:13)
Yes, and yes. Oh, yes, our answer is yes. Dave and I even wonder if unfortunately this is at times due to pride that it’s so difficult to allow the first one and to believe the second one.
Lord, help us to believe You long to bless us beyond… beyond… beyond.
May The Lord bless the giver of your blessings this week, Susan. INCREDIBLE!
Hugs and happy relaxation and meditation upon His wondrous works,
Kelley~
Oh, you have no idea. I keep a “treasure box” of evidence from a time when we had to literally live off the blessings of others. I keep it not only to remind me of the time I got to see God with his skin on, but also to remind me that we had to learn to receive it and to remember how hard it is for others to receive what I might want to give them as well.
I have more to say about that, but I will leave it at that for a while.