But should they, ultimately?
You may or may not have people that contact you to pray for them. I do. Lots of them. I’m pleased beyond words in most cases to stop for a moment, and commune with the Big Guy on behalf of others. However, you get used to some folks asking more than others. This isn’t a swipe at those who reach out often. I love that. I love them. But, when you receive a request from a beloved lifelong friend that never asks for boo, you take a bit more notice. Whether or not that should be a response for a self-described Christian, is a blog for another day. Suffice it to say though, I recently received such a text.
I’m not at liberty to go into great detail, but I can offer an analogy that might adequately relay over a scenario to ponder. Imagine for a moment your young child ended up in the hospital all of a sudden. Things were fine until they weren’t if you know what I mean. Out of nowhere, the prognosis is exceedingly bleak and your future with this precious life is likely to be very short. Add to that strenuous situation an extremely low quality of life for this child. Ugh…
Prayer ensues. Tears are shed. Moments of joy juxtaposed to moments of sorrow commence. Eventually, well-intentioned people offer their views. Now, keep in mind, that they never seek in any way to minimize the Lord or His plan. Nonetheless, each person offers their version of a blessing to either explain the situation or project forward.
Here’s where the blessings diverge. Some might say it was a blessing to have survived such an event and remain with us here on Earth. Some might say it was a blessing for the family to have a little more time with the child. Some might say if the child’s condition doesn’t deteriorate, the blessing is in continued time together. And some yet, may say the blessing is in being called home to the Lord, even if far earlier than the family had foreseen or planned.
Are any of the blessings described above inherently anti-Biblical? Nope. Are any of them in contradiction of others? Maybe. Can you, with any degree of certainty, point out which blessings are better or worse than the others? Probably not. Yes, you can make the ultimate case that ascending to the side of our Savior is the best of those end games. But, that’s not a category we’re disputing. Rather, the idea of what constitutes a blessing and what doesn’t.
For me, as I’ve given thought, I’m landing on them all being blessings. Why? Because God gave them to the family and beyond. And frankly, maybe the blessings aren’t things we realize in the here and now of it all. Maybe the parents will forever be altered by this experience. Maybe they’ll stumble and others will help them, which results in blessings. Maybe they’ll devote themselves to discipleship and help others impacted in similar fashions now that they have an indelible mark of empathy imprinted on their lives. That could be a future blessing. More likely, a myriad of future blessings we can’t possibly imagine.
But, the only way those blessings manifest themselves to the fullest is alongside Him. Period. When God takes a child from you, life gets just about as heavy and real as you can imagine. I’ve watched it several times now, and it is horrific. Yet, it can make all the difference for others down the line.
Yes, there are many rooms that God has, and Christ went to ready them. We learn this straight from His mouth in John 14. That’s not up for debate. The concept surrounding what is and isn’t a blessing can confuse us though. It doesn’t have to. Once you grasp the moral objective truth that God IS love in every aspect that you can and can’t imagine, you’ll count it all joy. We learn about “Counting it all Joy” in the first bits of James 1. And that Joy comes through trials. The illness and pending loss of a child certainly qualify as a trial, and it SHOULD produce Joy. Don’t let the darkness creep in and steal not only your Joy but the bond you have with the Lord.
Feed your Faith, my brothers and sisters. Turn to Him with ALL of it. And you’ll no longer have to be concerned about blessings being akin to “beauty in the eye of the beholder” comparisons. Much like the judgments we’re encouraged to avoid in Matthew 7, I wonder if blessings had not ought to be categories we try to define. When we try to define blessings, we find ourselves unqualified to some degree, kind of like judgments. Does that make sense? You’ll know a blessing when you see it, and may miss others. God doesn’t.
You’ll cry, laugh, love, and hurt with the Almighty, all of which He’ll support you through. Care not about what you want, but embrace what you need, as He gives those things, whatever they may be, freely to you through the gift of salvation. If you’ve understood my precept thus far, the question ultimately becomes: what have you done to work on your salvation today? Be salt and light. I beg you.
