In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our talks and teachings often focus on trials and tribulations. We understand difficult times are part of our mortal existence and acknowledge them as opportunities for personal growth. As we successfully overcome our plights, we experience a maturation of faith and testimony.
Without faith, we can be consumed in the fire of tribulation or be shattered on the blacksmith’s anvil. However, through the exercise of faith, we come through the furnace of hardship stronger and tempered in Christ.
We clearly understand our obligations when undergoing trials. We use them to learn the lessons of mortality and as opportunities to pull together as individuals, families, and communities. We view trials as challenges to exercise faith, to help one another, and to draw closer to the Lord.
But what about blessings?
We understand trials are not sent as punishments for being bad, yet often we look at blessings as rewards for being good – I must be living righteously or the Lord wouldn’t have given me this blessing. This can lead us down a selfish path, not only diminishing the blessing, but also becoming a tribulation of a different type.
Hard times and difficulties are often seen as challenges we must overcome. Blessings are more subtle, because we rarely see them for what they really are – challenges dressed up in ribbons and bows.
When we are blessed, what do we do about it? Do we hoard the blessing and keep it to ourselves? Do we shout it from the rooftops and show it off like a gigantic diamond on our finger? Or, do we respond to blessings with the same understanding we bring to tribulations – using them to strengthen our faith, help one another, and draw closer to the Lord.
Through awareness, acknowledgement, and application of our blessings, we can ensure we get the most out of them, while also showing the Lord we are worthy of being entrusted with more.
Awareness is the first step in the righteous function of blessings. So many of the Lord’s blessings are things we take for granted – health, family, jobs, and homes. We don’t always recognize these as blessings. However, if anything problematic occurs in any of these areas of our lives, we can find ourselves in dire straits – full blown trials and tribulation time.
Awareness of blessings is the first crucial step on the path to getting the most out of the blessing by doing the most with the blessing. The next step is acknowledging our blessings.
Awareness and acknowledgment are very different. Things of value in our everyday lives are not always shiny and bright. On the surface, they are ordinary, normal, and unexciting. Yet these ordinary blessings are the very basis for a Christ-centered life. If we take these good things for granted, we can become disgruntled – expecting to receive more blessings without first acknowledging those we already have.
If we are aware of being blessed by these ordinary things and yet refuse to acknowledge them as blessings, how can we show gratitude for what the Lord is offering us?
The Lord is the source from which all blessings flow. Acknowledging these everyday blessings helps us remember to be grateful, to better understand the depths of the Lord’s love for us, and show we are prepared and worthy of Him trusting us with other more obvious blessings.
If we have moved along the path from awareness (recognition) of our blessings, to acknowledgement of our blessings (showing gratitude), the final step is application of our blessings – using them to their fullest extent.
Sometimes this is hard to do, even with simple blessings – such as when we are asked to teach a lesson in Relief Society or Elders Quorum, give a talk during sacrament, or accept a new calling. Are we even aware of these requests as blessings?
Do we acknowledge them by showing gratitude for the opportunity to share the gospel? Do we apply these requests by putting them to their best use? Or, do we complain about the burden on our time, stress about the difficulties we have with public speaking, or turn away every time we see a member of the bishopric heading our way in order to avoid the assignment completely.
In Hebrews 6:7-8 we read, “Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it is burned.”
From this passage, we see we are expected to act upon the blessings the Lord bestows upon us. When we become aware of our blessings, and acknowledge them as such, we can only truly accept them by using them to fulfill the Lord’s intentions.
When we hoard blessings to ourselves, will never receive the full measure of the blessings. We are also showing we cannot be relied upon to receive future blessings of greater magnitude. The verses from Hebrews are very clear and, frankly, harsh – not utilizing blessings correctly will result in being cursed and burned.
Be assured, blessings and love are the two things that never run out. Good parents of five children do not run out of love if a sixth child comes along. In fact, the amount of love in the household increases exponentially. And so it is with blessings – the more a blessing is acted upon, the more people with whom a blessing is shared, the more the blessing provides to all involved.
Einstein said, “The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.” We are all capable of receiving blessings, but the value of those blessings is judged by what we do with them.
Blessings are a call to action – fresh ammunition in the war against the adversary – an opportunity to share the blessings of the Lord with those around us. Through this application of our blessings, we give back to the Lord for what he has given us.
Blessings are given with specific purposes beyond our simple enjoyment. When we are blessed, we are being handpicked for a greater purpose. Our obedience to the Lord’s will is one of the only gifts truly ours to give. By using our talents and our blessings to benefit others, we are showing our obedience to live like Christ.
Like trials and tribulations, blessings come our way to see how we will respond. If we take an attitude of entitlement, if we do not use our blessings to further His kingdom, the Lord may see fit to strip us of those things we do not appreciate
Blessings should be seen not as gifts but as tools. If under the tree this Christmas we receive a set of power tools, they will serve no purpose if they are simply stacked up and left in their boxes. Their true worth will only be realized when we take them out, pitch in to help our families and those around us.
Your local communities would love to have you share your skills and power tools with them. Whatever your blessings are, be they literal or figurative power tools, the Lord has work for you to do with them.
By blessing us, the Lord is entrusting us with those things we will need to accomplish the mission He has set for each of us. By acting on our blessings, we activate them to their fullest extent. By striving to find the reason behind why we have been given a specific blessing, we can also discover the best way to apply the blessing as the Lord would have us apply it.
None of us want to be judged as someone who has been given much, but has done little. By sharing our blessings with others, we do the most we can with what we have been given, and in so doing show ourselves worthy to receive more – completing a brilliant, unending cycle of joy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul’s latest novel, Felony Fists, a fast action boxing yarn for all ages, is available as an e-book for Kindle and Nook.
As a nationally recognized interrogator, he appears regularly on the hit ABC reality series Take The Money And Run. As well as numerous novels, he has also written scripts for episodic television and feature films.
A thirty-five year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Paul has twice been honored as Detective of the Year.
