NormsMilfordBlog

I often hear people say, “Have a blessed day.” I have never heard anyone say be a blessing today. Yet, as this graphic points out, if you are a blessing to others, you will have a blessed day. How does that work?

First, we must understand what it takes to be a blessing to others. That is usually pretty simple, but sometimes hard to achieve. Being a blessing in someone else’s life usually means doing something for them – performing some task, lifting some burden, or maybe just removing some barrier that is holding them back. Sometimes is may mean giving some money to help them out or to paying for the repair of something. It can mean as little as opening a door for someone or as drastic as laying down one’s life to save another.

We see stories on the news quite often about first responders, or even ordinary people, rescuing someone from a car crash or from a burning building. They were a blessing that day. How can we be a blessing in our day-to-day lives?

I think the main things are that you need to be aware and you need to care. Being aware means paying attention to those whom we encounter during the day. It is all too easy to have your eyes cast downward, perhaps towards your phone, so that you miss the looks of desperation or hunger or fear in the eyes of those whom you pass. You cannot help if you cannot see and recognize the need.

The second part of being a blessing is caring enough to act when you do see someone who needs help. Again, it is all to easy to just pass them bye; to say to yourself, “don’t get involved.” Jesus used the parable of the Good Samaritan to help his followers understand how to be a blessing by helping and not just passing bye.

I understand that not everyone has the time to stop and help in every situation of need that we may encounter; but, I think it is important to always have in the back of one’s mind the question , “What can I do to help?” There will be many opportunities for which you may have the time as well as the inclination.

At the start of each day, resolve to be a blessing to someone that day and at the end of the day look back and be thankful that you could help someone somehow. You were a blessing. What a blessed life you lead.