“The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.” Psalm 67:6 NIV
Do you feel blessed today? If you have a vegetable garden, what pleases you more? The plants or the ornate fence around it? When you read this verse from the book of Psalms, your North American mind probably starts to consider what you have; the stuff in the asset column of your life’s ledger. That fine, ornate enclosure around the garden.
Important, well yes it’s necessary to keep the critters out, but I hope that you might agree that the view of most of the North American blessings around us, is not that realistic. Bottom line is that God blesses us today and will again tomorrow with all that we need; never fails and more importantly, He has a home waiting for you in Heaven that will put your shanty here on earth to shame.
The attached photo was taken at a Lutheran Church in the Plateau Central somewhere near a fence row of cactus about twenty minutes east of Hinche. This group of people was the wedding party that had just concluded at about 9:30 in the morning. I can’t tell you who are the bride and groom or their proud parents or attendants, but they are happy; they seem to be blessed with happiness and fine dress clothes.
As you can see, they had prepared for an overflow crowd as there are chairs set outside. Those chairs are not like North American padded folding chairs; those chairs can get very painful on a soft North American derriere after a two-hour long service. Those chairs are a real blessing as the alternative is sitting on a board that is suspended by three branches.
God truly blesses us, every day, in so many various ways. I hope and pray that when you are sitting in the pew in your Church on Sunday, this photo will come back to haunt you. Blessings from our Triune God can and are taken for granted so often throughout our life’s journey. A daily meal of beans and rice for a Haitian child is such a blessing. Two hours of singing hymns and listening to a message is a blessing if you have spent a couple of hours walking to your Church; why would you want to leave after just an hour? Count your blessings dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay