Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
There seems to be a lot of anger in the market place these days. Little things are annoying people and their responses seem over the top. For example, I drove into the church car park going over a central hatching in the middle of the road in order to get across the road into the car park. A man standing at the bus stop, stared at me in disbelief and shook his head. He shouted something, which I fortunately could not hear. Apparently in his eyes I had done something stupid. However, there is no other way into this particular car park, other than going a long way round to get onto the right side of the road to turn into the entrance. I waffle, so I will get to the point.
When I saw the man gesticulating at me, I thought that this gentleman needs me to pray for him. So that is exactly what I did. I prayed blessings on him and asked God to give him a peace filled day.
Another gentleman who was in a rush after a school meeting nudged me quite hard to indicate that he wanted to get out of the row he was stuck in as he was in a hurry. He didn't apologize, just kept nudging. Unfortunately I could not move as the other people in the row were blocking the way. He seem oblivious to this fact. When we reached the exit he brushed me out of the way and walked off. I felt another urge to pray, and once again blessed this man who was in such a hurry and called on God to grant his urgent needs.
It would have been easy to retaliate in both instances, to think bad thoughts about both gentlemen, and in times past that is what I would have done.
Moving from cursing to blessings has been a long journey for me. But the benefits have been truly amazing. When things seemed impossible and I cursed, nothing happened. Why? Because God does not move on curses. He can't, because he is Love and Hope.
A minor example of a change that can produce blessings is this. If you have lost something, and you say where the **** is it, it will remain hidden. But if you say 'Father reveal to me where the object is' He does. And I have been blessed twice recently within the last two days to see this prayer answered. In both cases a picture appeared in my child's head of where the item was (she having lost both). The items were not in the house so would never be found there, and we would have spent a long time looking and searching in vain. The tension of looking was instantly replaced and Hope restored. Now this might seem a silly example but we ought to expect little miracles as well as bigger ones when we bless or use positive prayers in our life.
By blessing my family, and this is something I try to do everyday, saying 'blessings on (name)', I know that God is watering my husband and children during the day with His Hope. In this way we become hopeful and hope-filled people. Therefore we need to become sowers of Hope, for our family and for God's people. If we bless, no matter who or what, God can and will use our blessings.
If we are generous in our blessings rather than generous in our curses, Hope has a way into our lives and into the lives of those we bless.
We may never know what benefit our blessing has, as indeed, I shall probably never know what my prayer for the two gentlemen will have instigated, but what I do know, is that only good will come out of the blessing.
I saw my life change from the moment I stopped cursing and feeling hopeless. The blessings put me in a better place, both in frame of mind and in spirit. Once I stopped stating what was wrong with people and took on the mantle of just blessing them they too saw a change in me and in themselves.
It has been a blessing realizing that I need to be humble and gentle instead of aggressive and critical. And I know the world is a better place having one less angry person in the market place.
Blessings bring Hope. May we become sowers of hope.
God bless,
Margaret
(Author of "How to make Victoria Sponge - a journey of faith" - available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle)
To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. -C.S Lewis
