cOuNt yoUr bLeSsinGs

3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:3-6, ESV)

I have heard these verses recited from memory from my friend Nancy countless times. So that now when I read these verses, I hear Nancy's voice in my head. It is kind of nice since Nancy and her husband Dave just moved to Ohio. Friendship, is it a spiritual blessing? 

What are spiritual blessings? Well, let me take a stab at the question. First I would say that spiritual blessings are eternal. They can not be moved or destroyed. If we are friends and sisters (or brothers and sisters) in Christ then that will be for eternity. The Blessings are "In Christ." What do we have in Christ? Everything we need for life and godliness is how the apostle Peter put it. We have the Love of God, Redemption, Fellowship with the triune God, Forgiven, Peace, Grace, Mercy and the list goes on. The ESV Study Bible says that these a "saving gifts"and that the Holy Spirit guarantees these future Heavenly Blessings.  So, I imagine that if we are both on the Pilgrim Highway making our way to the Celestial City, then it is a blessing to be sharing in these saving gifts. 
This may not be the usual way to count my blessings. In fact, I thought about just quoting some of that Hymn and the history I read about the song said it was based on Ephesians 1:3-6 and that is what got me going in that direction. Hopefully, my gratitude is evident in this post. 

Every Day

As people who are blessed by God, every day we eat, dress, meet with others, read, write, work and walk along this journey. And every day, as an Image Bearer and a sinner, I need to remember the Good News, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today this is how I remembered by watching the following video.

Umbilical Cords tied tight

It is not like me to leave in the middle of a meeting but it was the best I could do. (It was for parents of new HPU students) Yes, I still have a lot to learn. As a mother, I have gone through many stages of letting go of each of my kids, now all young adults, which we have been calling them that since they were 13 or so, perhaps I ought to say I am a parent of adult children. Back to the meeting: there were at least a half dozen questions about food and the meal plan. We have trained our children to communicate for themselves and now the morning after I realize that many parents have not; these questioners felt they needed to ask these questions for their children instead of letting their kids find out for themselves. Yesterday, I didn’t have much patience or compassion, I wanted to ask, “Does anyone have a pair of scissors, so I can cut these umbilical cords?” Biting my tongue was not enough; I needed to just walk away.

As a mother who has educated her children at home, you might think that the launching would be more difficult. Admittedly, this is the most difficult transition in the parenting process for me. There is wisdom in learning from our own emerging adulthood and from those who have already shot their “arrows” out of the quiver. Our children need to learn to navigate through this life. There are two choices: we can send them off with our blessings or we can cling so tightly that they will need to break free. With the latter choice, parents wound their off spring and the relationship often never fully heals. They may never return, if they do return it will not be in a way that brings them back into sweet fellowship with us.

Our children are still dependent on us in a few ways and in many ways they are not. This is a time of finding out who they are. It is the natural course of life. If we want to be there for them, we must lovingly let them go with grace as passionately as we did when we held them so carefully as newborn babies, in awe of the responsibility, filled with joy of this new little life. There is more new life to come with each phase of development. Childhood is the SHORTEST season of life and most kids want to leave it behind and embrace their adulthood. Don’t be the parent who holds them back.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
This is the concluding thought in the letter from Paul to the Philippians.

I have been thinking about departing words perhaps because in the last week I have been to a memorial mass and a funeral mass. It is not just our good-byes at death but the end of the day with our kids and when we are leaving someone after a visit.
Over the last 5 & 1/2 years we have had almost nothing but blessings spoken over us. We have pulled out from Marlborough, MA (twice now), Virginia Beach (03 & 04), Ft. Myers, FL (04 & 05), Tilman, MD (04), Knoxville, TN (05), Quichee, VT (05), Naples, FL (06), Gainesville, FL (07), Charlottesville, VA (07), Hull, MA (08). Each place has its dear people that hold special places in our hearts and those that we have gotten to know and love that have blessed by their words as much as their actions.
I would agree with James one of the writer in the New Testament that the tongue is the hardest thing for us to tame and that both blessings and curses come from the same place. For the last 20 plus years, the Lord has been at work in me, disciplining and training me and I still find myself with my foot in my mouth and lately, I have been choking on a calf muscles and knees (at least it wasn't the whole leg). I want to get back to just nippling on my toes once in a while.

This requires a very simple principle: THINK before you SPEAK. After pondering this for some time, in between my large blunders, what do I want the last word to be? Seems like a no brainer, blessing of course! If life were so clean! If sinners never sinned! Most of us, have to work at it. There are people out there that seem to just have "it." I just don't happen to be one of them.

Some of our favorites are: "I love you" "Thanks..." "See you soon" "Have a good day (unless you have other plans)" "Take care" "Safe home"
There are 4 that I want to say more often to four very special people in my life:
"May the God of Hope fill you, Michael with all joy and peace as you trust in Him. So that you may over flow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
"And God is able, Katie, to make all of his grace abound to you, so that at all times having all that you need you may abound in every good work."
"May our Lord Jesus Christ, himself and God our Father, who loves you, Grace and by his grace has given you eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your heart and strengthen you in every good deed and word."
"So then Daniel, just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord continue to live in Him, be rooted and built up in Him and strengthened in the faith just as you were taught and be overflowing with thankfulness."
I would love to hear some of your favorite parting words!