Bless You!

I was raised to be nice to other people. You're supposed to let them go first, have the biggest piece, sit in the good chair, bless them when they sneeze. We're taught that it's selfish to want more for ourselves. It was drilled into us. Of course, little kids aren't naturally kind, so it does take drilling to create a habit of thinking.

We pray for each other the same way. We want to see others blessed and healed and taken care of. And yet, it's so hard to ask for the same for ourselves. It's almost hard to listen as flight attendants tell you to put the oxygen mask on yourself before helping a child. We've been drilled to think the opposite.

We need to remember to ask for blessing and prayer for ourselves when we pray to God. It's not that hard to ask others to pray for us. It's harder to ask God to bless us. Somehow that must be wrong, selfish, greedy.

Thank God the Prayer of Jabez became so popular. "Oh, that you would bless me indeed..." I really believe that there are storehouses of blessing in heaven that go untouched because we are not asking. I do not have a problem asking God to bless me, abuduntantly. Of course God wants to bless us. We are His children. All we have to do is ask. And when I do, I notice other people telling me, "Bless you," when I do something unexpected for them. People you wouldn't expect to say such things.

I am happy to receive blessing and I ask for it a lot. You don't have to worry. I won't take it all, there's plenty.