Blessings

Don't you just love blessings? 

It is so great to receive them, but even better to give them. 

 Have you ever looked up the definition of the word bless?  

 I like using the Webster's 1828 dictionary which defines it like this: 

Bless
1. To pronounce a wish of happiness to one; to express a wish or desire of happiness. 

         And Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. Gen.28.2.
To make happy; to make successful; to prosper in temporal concerns; as, we are blest with peace and plenty.         The Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thou doest. Deut. 15.3.
To make happy in a future life. 

          Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Rev.14.
4. To set apart or consecrate to holy purposes; to make and pronounce holy. 

            And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Gen.25.
To consecrate by prayer; to invoke a blessing upon.        

              And Jesus took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven he blessed them. Luke 9.6.

To praise; to glorify, for benefits received. 

          Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Ps.103.7.
To praise; to magnify; to extol, for excellencies. Ps.104. 
8. To esteem or account happy; with the reciprocal pronoun. 
       The nations shall bless themselves in him. Jer.4.
9. To pronounce a solemn prophetical benediction upon. Gen.27. Deut. 33.

Blessing someone is easy - we only need to wish them happiness, make them happy, or help them to be successful  and prosper in temporal concerns. There are so many ways to bless others.  Parents bless their children daily by praying blessings for them, making them happy by spending time with them and teaching them new things.  Simple things bless a child - if making them successful is a blessing - most parents do this naturally.  We teach them how to walk, talk, love, share, learn and more - all of these are blessings.  We make them happy by joking around with them,  or by showing them joy for the things they accomplish.  Blessing our children is so very easy.  Just think, if we can bless our children so naturally and easily - How much more does the Lord bless us?

⁷Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
 ⁸For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
 ⁹Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
 ¹⁰Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
 ¹¹If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
 ¹²Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets 

The Lord is so good to us - He blesses us continuously.  He wants us to be happy and successful. 

How can we bless Him?  Praise Him, Glorify Him for the benefits we receive.  Thank Him and have a sweet relationship with Him.  One of my favorite ways to Praise Him is to sing.  Now believe me, I do not have one of those sweet angelic voices that sing you to sleep, it's quite the contrary.  You can confirm this with Chuck, Becca or Misti - I would always belt out the praise songs on our morning commutes.  Thankfully the Lord loves to hear me sing praises to Him.  He loves it more than the parent who adores that sweet child singing  so lovingly and so terribly off key.

      Let's find a way to bless someone this week.  This is going to be our challenge for the week.  Make someone happy, help them succeed or temporarily prosper.  The second challenge for the week - be sure you praise and glorify God. - I will try to share some of the blessings our family experiences and would love to hear about how you blessed someone this week too!