Our lives are so full of blessings, we often take them for granted.  I know I am guilty of that. I have been given so much I think I EXPECT my life to be happy and “blessed”.  I want a nice life and I want to have fun and be happy too!  I don’t expect things to be given to me and I expect to work for everything, but I do expect to have them.  I expect to be blessed!

I have thought through the years about my ancestors. I’m sure many of yours share a similar story. Mine were immigrants who left undesirable conditions in Europe, crossed the ocean, came through Ellis Island and homesteaded in the West. They were mostly farmers who took a chance for a better life and truly believed they were led by God to be in that place at that time. Unlike most of us in this day and age, they functioned at the survival level and were pretty much self-reliant. Because they were agricultural people, they had enough food and a house over their head and didn’t expect a lot more. Yet, they felt blessed with what they had.

How scary would that have been?  They left everything they knew and set off for a place they had never seen and trusted the Lord would carry them through and he did.  He provided them the opportunity for a new life and a fresh beginning and blessed them along the way.

Throughout all of history God has done the same for many.  In Genesis, Abram and Sarai (later to become Abraham and Sarah) received a blessing that moved them physically and spiritually.  God told them to leave their family and the land they had known forever and travel to an unexpected destination.  On the way they were told God would bless them with land and descendants who would build a nation and Abram would become the father of many nations. It didn’t happen immediately, but they kept the faith, continued to follow God and they were richly blessed.

Of course, we all know the story of how Mary was blessed by becoming the mother of Jesus.  She was afraid of the journey that would take her places she had never been, not just physically, but spiritually as well, but she believed her unborn child was the Son of God and the Savior of the world.  She listened, obeyed God and with the help of her cousin Elizabeth and of course her future husband Joseph, she bears the greatest blessing of our world, Jesus.

I have been blessed with every move I have made and I know they were all led by God’s hand. Sometimes I wondered why I was being led to these places and I didn’t know what I would find when I got there, but it was always better than I imagined it would be. Nothing life-changing and extraordinary happened to me like it did for my ancestors, or Abraham and Sarah or Mary.  The greatest blessings of my life have been the invitations to relish what’s ordinary through God’s unconditional love for us. The joys of everyday life, everyday people, and everyday experiences have been a blessing and have kept me happy, having fun and hopefully, being a blessing to others in some small way.  Thank God from whom all blessings flow!!

Patty