Every so often I come across a Facebook status from someone saying that they’re blessed. “I’m blessed!” “You’re blessed!” “It’s a blessing!”.
Usually if I know them well, I can’t help but think about the fact that they’ll say this despite the recent inconveniences and sometimes hardships they’ve faced prior to that statement.
How can they say their well-off when they’re not actually well-off, even by their own standards?
To be fair, I don’t think people question the words they use to validate whether it’s appropriate or not — let alone if the definition of the word even applies to what they mean to say. So, if they knew better maybe they would be more accurate.
Still, I’d like to pose the following questions…
Does it mean you’re special?
The idea of being blessed is very much like the idea of being lucky. It’s basically whenever you feel fortunate.
The difference between being blessed and being lucky is not so different.
When you say that you are blessed, I presume that you imply your life situation must have been orchestrated by God.
It seems to me, that some people often times rather say that they’re blessed instead of lucky, so that they can add an emphasis on the idea that God had something to do with their circumstances.
To me, that sounds rather arrogant.
It’s basically saying that God (an all-knowing, most powerful being in the universe) has focused on your well-being more than others because you are… that awesome?
To be blessed, in other words, is to be special; but logically speaking, in order to be special there must be people who are not special.
That means that you must consider your life to be better than others in some way.
Put it this way: If you were the only person in the world, the idea of feeling blessed would be kind of meaningless.
There’s nothing to compare your life outcome with. I guess in this scenario you can compare your life to other animals, like a fish — or something. But…
Ego can be irrational and it may be an indicator for a mindset that is based on logical fallacies.
Now, in some respect, all of that is ok. You may think your life is better than others but you don’t take it to the extreme and rub it in peoples faces.
However, if you view a blessing as an award for how good of a person you are (and I hope it does) then wouldn’t you feel a bit guilty for implying that your life is better than others?
If you truly care about others and wish to add value to their well-being, why is there a need to proclaim that you’re blessed?
When you say that you’re lucky, it implies that your circumstances can happen to anyone.
When you say that you’re blessed, it implies that your circumstances happened to you on purpose.
Saying that you’re lucky actually seems to be a bit more accurate (and humble, for those who like that word better) and overall inclusive, than saying that you’re blessed.
Does it mean you’re grateful?
Consider this: God has offered you a ton of blessings in your life and you’re grateful for that.
Well, I’m curious, would you still be grateful without the blessings? For instance, would you truly be grateful that you’re even alive?
No, I don’t mean right after a car accident, I mean being grateful that you’re just alive right now.
If you can feel gratitude for just being alive right now, then what makes blessings so exclusive when it comes to gratitude?
If you always feel gratitude, then is it intellectually inconsistent to single-out a certain circumstance as a moment to be grateful?
Surely the answer is no, but that’s okay because people are not grateful by default. Sometimes it takes a bit of effort.
But if you’re grateful because you’re “blessed”, then why not just say you’re grateful instead?
Saying you’re blessed doesn’t clearly describe the context of what you’re feeling.
Because of this, I question the authenticity and motive behind those who claim that they’re blessed but say it means they’re grateful.
You’re not stupid, you chose the word “blessed” rather than “grateful” for a reason. Why?
The actual meaning of “Blessed”
A quick google search will enlighten you to how egotistical the word actually is.
What does google say is the definition of blessed?
That's the google search result for “Define Blessed”
So if the word blessed means to be made holy or consecrated, then I suspect that most people don’t mean to use the word in its literal sense.
Choose your words wisely.
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https://medium.com/josh-bocanegra/i-used-to-say-i-m-blessed-until-i-asked-these-2-questions-d775456dd813
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