Atta boy Ryan! Just keep tithing to the church and God will keep blessing you.
That’s what my clients keeps telling me anyway. This particular individual happens to be the multi-millionaire owner of a large automotive company and lives in a large acreage home. He also has another expensive holiday residence in the foothills and recently bought a warehouse to store his classic cars, boats and other toys. Whenever he needs some painting done, he starts out the conversation by asking how business is going and I usually respond with, “Going great, business is good.” After all, I do have a very popular and busy painting company.
But it because of a quid pro quo arraignment that I have with the Almighty—like He’s some kind of mob boss?
Is that what defines me as “blessed”?
It might be easy for me to think that having nice things equals being blessed. After all, by most peoples standards, I am a good person. Also, I recently built a beautiful house on a gorgeous acreage. I drive nice vehicles, have a career that I enjoy and enjoy a wonderful family at home.
How do I deserve this? Is it because I am such a good person?
You see, I was always taught, sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly that if you live a godly life, and as my client insists—pay your tithe, God will bless you. And that always amounts to a comfortable life.
The problem is, that one of the most godly people in my life is also one of the poorest and most disadvantaged men that I personally know. He is the birth father of my two adopted children. He lives in Port Au Prince, Haiti.
I’ll never forget the first time I met him and his sweet wife. She was VERY pregnant at the time. My wife and I had invited them to join us for supper at the hotel we were staying at. I’m sure they had never been in a restaurant before—never mind a nice one like the one that we met at. After all, why would they have given up six of their ten children for adoption as they couldn’t feed them if they could enjoy the luxury of restaurants? His name is Edner and he is a very skinny man. Vinette, his pregnant wife quickly finished her meal by the time Edner was only a few bites into his.
He saw that she had finished and slid his mostly full plate over to her so that she could eat it as well.
Tears well up in my eyes as I remember this selfless gesture. He obviously rarely had enough to eat and yet was willing to give up a nice restaurant meal for his wife.
Over the years as we have kept in contact with our Haitian family, we have learned that this is how Edner has lived his life. Self sacrificing, other centred, other empowering love.
Like Jesus—who was another poor man.
That begs the questions: How does Jesus define “blessed”?
In the beatitudes, the ones who are blessed are poor, the ones who mourn, the gentle, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted.
People who have suffered
Do you know someone who has never had significant challenges? Someone who was born into privilege and had everything go their way throughout their life? People like that are always shallow and uninteresting. They simply cannot relate to regular people. They tend to lean towards narcissism.
When you have experienced suffering and hardship, you are then able to help others who are going through the same thing, just as other people who have suffered have helped you. When suffering people get together and help each other heal, there is a kind of symbiosis. A holy unity, or in trinitarian language—perichoresis. Where there is unity and symbiotic love, there can be nothing but peace.
Maybe this is what Jesus meant by “blessed”.
Why do I have nice things?
I am lucky.
I was born a male with white skin in one of the richest nations on this planet (Canada) with a strong healthy body and above average intelligence. I happen to be an enneagram 3 which means that the economic system that I find myself in was designed by and for people just like me.
What did I do to deserve these advantages? Nothing. I’m just plain freaking lucky.
Why am I blessed? I have been through hardship.
I have survived many friends who died before they turned 25. I burned out of my first and chosen career after less than 5 years. My wife and I wanted to have a large family, but were infertile after our first child. We went through hell in the process of adopting our second and third children and have had significant heart break as we raised our family. We have lost extended family members to cancer. We have lost our religious community as our faith evolved beyond their certitude.
We have also had others help us in our healing and have been able to be a part of the lives of others, helping them to heal. This more than anything else has enriched our lives. Having nice things and comfort is great, but the relationships I’ve been able to share with others who have suffered is priceless.
I am blessed. Lucky me!