Blessings

A word that has become a huge part of my vocabulary in the past few years is the word Blessing.

I hear it or use it in various situations. 

"What a blessing that is."

"You are blessed"

"I feel blessed"

"Bless you for that"

This word. This word is used so much that I wanted to really find out what the difference is between a blessing or being blessed and just having good luck or being just a happy person is. Am I using it in the right conotation? Should I be using another phrase?

So as with any of these sorts of questions, I look to good old Miriam-Webster for my answers. I even backed up my information with a few other dictionary sources. The first thing I stumbled upon is that the word blessing can be used in so many ways it is hard to wrap my head around.

This word can glorify, it can bestow good of any kind, it can be a request to God for divine favor upon something, it can even condemn. Some of my favorite definitions involved the bestowing of a gift or favor by God upon a person. It can be an invocation of God's blessing upon another. It can bring about praise, devotion, worship, approval, and happiness among other things.

That is an awful lot to live up to for one word in the English vernacular. What I am choosing to take away from this, as I hope others may as well, is that the word blessing has great power to do good verses harm. I have learned that it is okay to use it but truly only if I mean it. A blessing or blessing others should be done in good faith and with good intentions. It should not be a cast aside flippant response. We have plenty of other words for something like that. Telling someone that I feel so blessed that they are in my life has so much more weight to it. It carries part of my heart and my true intentions whether I say it out loud or write it down.

So if I have ever told any of you that you are a blessing in my life, know that I really meant it. You are someone that has brought happiness to my life and I want to return that favor upon you.
When it all comes out in the wash, I guess it is just important to remind ourselves that words have a much greater impact than we give them credit for at times. I often hear parents say "use your words" as their young children are developing the use of language. We as adults should use our words but also be conscientious of the words we are using.

With a word like blessing make sure you mean it. That one needs to come from the spirit in your heart. If you have ever been told you are a blessing, accept that compliment with grace and dignity it deserves. Somebody really cares for you.

2 Score

Within a week I will have reached the 2 score mark in age. It hardly seems possible really when I feel like the longer I am on the planet and the more I learn, the less I really really know.
One thing I do know for certain is that if you would have told me even 20 years ago that I was going to be teaching in Korea I would have shook my head and laughed at the utter nonsense of the the thought.
My goal was always to teach in my hometown. To follow my mentors and give back what was given to me. To make my family proud and to become a caring and quality educator. I never was the best in class at anything but I knew how to try really hard and I figured that if I tried really hard at teaching then something good would come out of it. Nope, I was going to stay where my roots where so firmly planted until the end of my days.
Well fast forward to my life now. Do I regret it? No. Will I ever be able to go back to that dream I had all those years ago? No. Do I want to? I don't know. This was not the life that was ever modled for me and yet here I am planning travel to at least 3 different destinations in the next 9 months. Where are the roots that are so firmly planted four generations deep now?
I have selfishly given up a lot of things in my life for this opportunity but now I cannot imagine changing it. Except now I wonder. I wonder of course what tomorrow brings like most of us. Even more so I wonder what will happen in the next 2 score of my life if I am that lucky. Where will I be. What will I be doing. Will anybody be by my side? All fantastic and curious questions now. There will be love and loss. Friendships that come and go. But I will not be able to look back on my life and say that I haven't done something. Being an educator, no matter where you are is doing something.
If nothing else, I don't want to have set plans for my next 2 score years. I want to live them regrets and all. I want to feel young on the inside even if I am old on the outside.
Mr. Lincoln started one of the most influential and shortest speeches of his presidency with the words "Four score and seven years ago...." I just see more and more that I have a great deal yet to complete if I am lucky to make it to that age myself. When you are almost halfway there you come to realize that you best keep moving because there is a lot of living yet to be done.
With that...here is to my next score of years. Hopefully they are well lived and full of stories to share.