“Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” ~Psalm 103:2
I had a southern lady for a grandma. She was from the Deep South. I heard her say many phrases that came from the depths of Mississippi, including the often used "Bless his or her heart." I often wondered what that meant because she used it so many different ways. I wondered what it meant to "bless someone’s heart."
But there have been some very special times that the idea of blessing has become crystal clear. Those times in life let you taste the fullness of life Jesus talks about. Times of blessing are holy, and you know that you’ve experienced something of the Divine. Blessing is something that God brought to us. When God formed creation, the very next act was blessing it. When God breathed life into humans, the very next act was blessing us. God’s been doing it ever since. God has been offering blessing and asking us to do the same. Experiencing blessing is something of the sacred.
Our goodbye over the last weeks has been one of those times in my life. I have known deep and transforming blessings. You have blessed my heart, my life, and my next chapter. You have blessed with words that seek God’s best gifts for my life, ministry, and family. You have blessed the ministry we have done together by sharing some “God-moments” that have happened in the midst of our time together. And your acts of blessing with shared meals, help moving and packing, and generous gifts have helped us to experience the abundance of God and His grace. Your acts of blessing have stirred, filled, and refreshed my heart so I can be ready to go, love, and serve with new power and energy.
You are a blessing. It’s part of answering your call as people of God. I’ve attended various worship services over the last four weeks. In every one of them, I’ve been invited to bless God’s heart. The idea is in the pages of our scriptures, particularly the Psalms. But to think that we could bless God’s heart struck me anew, and I was amazed. And we are called to share God’s blessings with others; we are called to be a blessing.
May you continue to answer that call in bold and gracious ways. May it become the goal for your everyday…to bless God’s heart and other’s. For I can tell you, from experience, that you are a powerful people of the Spirit when it comes to blessing a heart.
“Let us consider how to stir up another to love and good works…” ~ Hebrews 10:24
Christ’s love and mine,
Jen
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