To Bless and Be Blessed
She was someone I had talked to before.
I had opened up about some of my story and shared about the women’s ministry that my mom and I had begun and she had opened up about the struggles she was having about her daughter’s marriage and hating the darkness she saw looming over the relationship. I promised to pray for all of them. It was a sweet blessed time.
Many months later I was standing across from her as she rung up my thrift store treasure finds. Even though I had shopped a few times in her store since that first conversation nothing more had been said so I thought the quiet moment of solitude was the perfect opportunity to check in and see how things were.
The answer I got was so…southern. (No offense to Southerners out there but y’all know what I mean ;) ) She told me everything was just going great for her daughter and she was only dealing with some seasonal allergies. Sounds normal on paper right? But I knew in my heart her answer was a shut door response.
The opportunity for blessing was closed but her response brought some fresh self reflection questions to my heart.
How often have I shut out people, missing opportunity’s to bless and be blessed?
How often has my “Everything is Fine!” response left someone off kilter and feeling all alone?
How often have I kept someone from being encouraged because I choose to show only the nicest moments of my life?
I want to be better at leaving the door to blessing and being blessed through honest conversations about my life whether it is a 20 second conversation at a check out counter or a 2hr conversation over tea with a friend. And I’m not talking about word vomiting all over people or spilling my deepest thoughts but I am talking about being real and willing to share a part of myself; to be human to another human and in doing so, remind them they are not alone; they have been seen and heard. They have encountered a real soul, not a happy plastic person with a perfect Hallmark post card life.
This song by Francesca Battistelli says it all.