Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Matthew 5:3, 10 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . . Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
COUNTING YOURSELF BLESSED
A friend of mine was away from home with her two kids. They were in Minneapolis on their way to meet up with some family, and they were already behind schedule. To add to the problem, she missed the exit she needed to get off on.
We all know what that feels like. Late already, and then something else happens. To make things even worse, the next few exits were industrial exits which offered little hope of kindly directions from a local. In the back seat the kids were beginning to get restless.
Finally she got turned around and was approaching what she believed was the correct exit. But she wanted to make sure. So, she pulled off at a gas station to ask if this was the exit to the I-35 bridge. When she asked, the man behind the counter just pointed to the television screen and said, "Don't you know? It just collapsed."
Just moments before, the bridge that had stood for decades had collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145. All of a sudden she went from feeling very frustrated to feeling very blessed.
Our place in life may not seem blessed to us sometimes because we lose sight of the bigger picture. Looking at the little scuff on our shoe, we forget that we own a place in the eternal Kingdom of God because of Christ's love for us.
Being blessed as a follower of Christ in this broken world does not mean silk pillows and bon-bons. It means that we have a great God who is actively guiding our lives. It means that because of Jesus, we have a future so great that we will forget the bad experiences that we have now.
