Be Thou a Blessing

ED gives us nothing to keep altogether as our very own. What he gives us is still his, and we have only the use of it. It is lent to us. This means that it is to be returned again to God when we have ended our use of it. It is not to be returned, however, just as it came to us, the bare gift and nothing more; it is to be multiplied with use and then returned with proper accruements.

There is another phase of this use of God’s gifts which we should not overlook. While they are in our hands they are to be employed not for ourselves alone, or at all, primarily, but to give help, comfort, joy, light, and cheer, to others. When the Lord called Abraham to leave his country, his home, his friends, and go out as a homeless stranger, whithersoever he might be led, he gave Abraham a promise of great blessing. Then came 53

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the command, “and be thou a blessing.” He was to receive from God, and he must also give.

This is the law of the heavenly kingdom. Nothing whatever is given to us to be kept for ourselves alone. Everything that is ours is ours to use and then pass to others. God gives us his love, the most wonderful gift that even he has to bestow, but we are not to keep it. We are to love others as he loves us. If we do not love others, that is proof that we have not really taken the gift of God’s love into our own heart. God gives us his mercy — he forgives us. We are to pass his forgiveness to others. The only real indubitable proof that we have received the divine forgiveness is that we are extending it to those who have wronged or injured us. “Forgive us as we forgive,” we are to pray.

So it is of everything we get from God, the largest and the smallest blessings, — we are to pass them on. Blessed of God in such a wonderful way, “be thou a blessing.” If we but carried out his teaching and fulfilled this law [54] “2fc Cfjou a 2Mea*fafl”

of Christ’s kingdom in every particular, it would make this earth a heaven. Yet that is just what we should aim to do.

“Be thou a blessing.” Make it personal. Look back and think of the persons with whom you have come into contact to-day — to how many of these have you been a blessing? There are few of these who did not need something you could have given. Everybody is carrying a burden. Many have sorrows of which the world knows nothing, for not all the world’s grief hangs crape on the door-knob.

What are you really doing for people? What are you giving to them? There are some persons who make the load of others heavier instead of lighter. They are discouragers rather than encouragers. One of the ways of being a blessing is never to make life harder for another, never to be a hindrance, never to go to others with doubts and fears. This alone is a good thing — never be a discourager.

But that is only a negative way of being [55]

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a blessing — blessing others by not harming or injuring them. It is better than being a plague to others, doing them injury. But it is not the kind of help God wants us to give. The divine command is, “Be thou a blessing.” This calls for an active helping. Blessing is a noble word. It is a great thing to be a blessing to any one. It is to bring him something from God, to do him good in some way that will make him better, stronger, and happier. We have had our cup filled with the love of God; now we are to share our blessing with others.

“If thou art blest, Then let the sunshine of thy gladness rest On the dark edges of each cloud that lies Black in thy brother’s skies. If thou art sad, Still be thou in thy brother’s gladness glad.”

It is not easy to live a life of perpetual blessing to people. Jesus did it, but it was very expensive living for him.

“Virtue went out of him,” to heal and help. He gave out something of himself to every one he touched. We cannot do people much [56] “2fre Cfjou a blessing”

good, we cannot help them in deep and true ways, without cost to ourselves. What costs us nothing is not worth giving. An old proverb says, “One cannot have omelet without breaking eggs.” We cannot do anything worth while for others without cost. If you begin to love another, you do not know what your loving will demand of you before you have finished its task. Love gives and serves and sacrifices unto the uttermost.

We need never fear the cost, however, when there comes to us an opportunity of being a blessing to another. Blessing for ourselves depends upon our being faithful to every duty of love, regardless of the cost. If we shrink from the service because it is too much for us to do, we miss the gift of God for ourselves, which is offered to us in the opportunity. The true and the beautiful life is the one that seeks to be a blessing to every other life it touches.

“Do any hearts beat faster,
Do any faces brighten
To hear your footsteps on the stair,
To meet you, greet you, anywhere?

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Are you so like your Master

Dark shadows to enlighten?

Are any happier to-day

Through words that they have heard you say?

Life were not worth the living

If no one were the better

For having met you on the way,

And know the sunshine of your stay.”

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