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But what about this “blessed” business? We should consider what “blessed” means. It’s not the same thing as “perfect” or “charmed” or “successful.” I recently read an article that asked Christians to stop using the words, “I’m blessed” as the catch all to mean, “I am happy with how things are going” or to connote success. We aren’t blessed just because we have a good job or a nice car or a pretty family. Those things are nice to have and they aren’t inherently evil, but to define blessing by listing those things does a disservice to the faithful Christians around the world who have none of those things. Aren’t they blessed to? Isn’t blessing more than success and privilege or power and possessions? Abraham did not lead a charmed life. But he led a blessed life. He was made righteous in God’s sight because God made him righteous and he acted in obedience as a result of that. Things weren’t perfect for Abraham after that, but God’s blessing on his life was apparent. And while Abraham didn’t live to see all his many promised descendants, the greatest blessing on Abraham’s life was the blessing he became to the nations. You may or may not know this about me, but I used to teach knitting and crochet professionally. I know, it’s a strange career, but I like to keep people guessing. Out of all my students, the only ones I had who couldn’t learn were the two (only two) who walked in and said, “I can’t do this.” Before even trying. Sometimes, I would get students who were re-learning after some years or who were just quick learners and they would pick it up lickety split like it was nothing. The most common, though were the “tight knitters.” I knew what was happening just by seeing the look on their face. They were concentrating SO HARD on what they were doing and on getting it JUST RIGHT that they would knit or crochet these teeny tiny little stitches that were so tight, you could hear their needles squeak as they tried to get them through the sweaty loops. They were knitting, but it was painful. These students would have to stop every row and shake out their hands from the cramps they were causing. It was exhausting just watching them. Meanwhile, just to make a point, I would walk around the classroom with a small bag of yarn slung over my shoulder, knitting as I watched them and talked with them. Inevitably, a student would say, “ THIS IS KILLING ME! And there you are just walking around like it’s nothing!”
And I’d say, “So stop trying so hard.”
“What?!”
“You’re thinking about it too much. Just knit.”
And ever so gradually, they would start to loosen up and I could almost see the light bulbs going on above their heads as it clicked. The trick to knitting and crochet – as with many art forms – is to stop trying so hard. You can’t be creative when you’re trying too hard to be perfect!