I have to admit that this hashtag gives me mixed emotions. When I see people wearing it on t-shirts I sometimes want to say, “sure you feel blessed, everything is going exactly how YOU want it to!” My favorite example is from Alexander’s Terrible, Horrible, no Good Very Bad Day. The teenage brother is going to prom with his dream date, doing great in school, sports, socially and getting his license. At his high, he says “hashtag blessed, man” meanwhile, we know how Alexander’s life is going as he looks on.
If I’m honest, I’ve felt a lot more able to relate to Alexander the last two months. I’ve been particularly down. Life has just been hard. We have faced some challenges with homeschooling, relationships have had rocky moments and church/ministry has been discouraging. I have not felt particularly “blessed”.
Yesterday, I took some time to journal, a practice I have been avoiding! I wanted to reflect on the year, try to set some goals for 2019, etc. I started thinking about what has worked and what needs improvements. In my glass is half empty style, I wanted to jump right to what needs improvement. Instead of wanting to lose five pounds as I had last year, now it’s ten. Set stricter technology limits for the family. That sort of thing. However, I had this strong feeling that I should start to take some time to reflect on the good first. I was blown away! To name a few:
- My daughter Taylor who has had seizures for years has been seizure-free since February!
- After three years of putting up with a lemon dishwasher, Lowes agreed to replace ours for free!
- We were able to go on two weeks of vacation with extended family this year!
Counting our blessings is a good practice, for sure. A friend of ours, keeps a “God folder” where he keeps a record of answered prayers. Ways God has worked through hard situations and ways he has provided. It’s a great reminder of His faithfulness, especially in hard times.
More than that, though. We will face trials, there is no way of avoiding it. When we start looking to our earthly fortress and circumstances to make us feel blessed, we will always come up short. We must remember that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. That is our #Blessed. Whether God has us using a useless dishwasher for years or losing a loved one, we are always blessed in Christ and he is always using the circumstances for his glory and our sanctification!
On a different note, the end of Alexander’s movie brings a sweet message of the importance of family, I definitely recommend it.