Experience his blessings

Oscar Wilde penned, "Experience is simply the names we give our mistakes."  So very true! We probably invented the great word "experience" to simply explain the many "mistakes" we made getting to where we are today!  We humans have a way of trying to make things appear as they are not - if we didn't the make-up and tummy tuck industry would be out of business!  Truth is sometimes not the most flattering - nor is it the most palatable. Albert Einstein told us that the only source of knowledge was through experience - you had to have gone through the experience to know if the knowledge was trustworthy. I like what Eleanor Roosevelt said, "People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built." 

Those who stand in awe of the Eternal—who follow wherever He leads, committed in their hearts—experience His blessings! God will use your hard work to provide you food.  You will prosper in your labor, and it will go well for you.  May the Eternal continue to pour out His love on you...May you have the privilege of seeing your grandchildren as they grow. (Psalm 128:1-2, 6 VOICE)

God's intent for us is for us to experience his blessings - not just some of them, but all of them. Not because we deserve them - but because he lavishes them upon us in immeasurable ways.  The thing about God's blessings is that they are meant to be "experienced" - not just thought about, considered, or kept in "reserve" for a rainy day. They are for now and later, here and there, you and me. Some might see the next sentence in our passage as saying we have to do our part and God will do his.  God made man to be the most fulfilled when he has work to occupy his hands - from this work, God brings many a blessing, but even a farmer will tell us there is no guarantee of a harvest just because one "works hard".

We might want to think some of God's blessings are a little "exclusionary" - good for some, but no way we are ever going to walk into those same blessings ourselves.  You know, no matter how much I look at the blessings of another, I don't think they aren't "for me", but that my blessings come in ways that are meaningful for my life. The blessings you receive are meaningful for you, but may not have the same meaning or purpose in my life. To consider a blessing in view of God's care over our lives is the most "sane" way to consider it. The blessing is to be experienced, worked through, and as Roosevelt said, it is to be built into our character.

The greatest blessing is his love. The benefit of his love is grace. The privilege of his love is nearness to his heart. These are blessings we ALL experience without measure - no one receives a greater or lesser portion of these than the other person. They are given in infinite ways, manifested in moments and ways only we can appreciate and embrace. We experience them a little differently at times, but they are all the same blessings!  Just sayin!