Can You Say: “I am Blessed, and Better Things Are On the Way?”
Three stories to help you to guarantee your Future Blessings
“I am Blessed” is a lovely and positive statement; beautiful!
But what if you are not feeling particularly blessed? Is it possible to change? It isn’t easy to turn around negative thoughts, is it?
What if you have a problem, a real problem, and you think: “Things are so bad, I just can’t turn it around”?
To turn things around can sometimes seem impossible … and we give up bothering, give up trying to seek a turn-around.
We are sometimes overwhelmed by our problems and find it easier to switch off. We try to ‘forget’ (but we can’t really, can we?).
Come with me on a journey of discovery. The following stories are true stories (at least for the participants in the stories). I believe that they offer an answer, of Hope and Belief in ‘Better Things to Come’.
This might all seem ‘religious’… but … its not! I promise you.
You can read on with the confidence that I’ll keep my promise on this, though if you wish to interpret it as ‘religious’ (because that’s how you personally see it), then that’s OK too. Just allow others to see things differently if that’s their way.
***** News Flash ***** : An update to the original story:
I first published this article in 2020 with the title: “You Can Say: “I am Blessed, and Better Things Are On the Way” Some two years later, I refreshed it, and giving it a new title. Here’s the new title: Can You Say: “I am Blessed, and Better Things Are On the Way?” Can you spot the difference in the titles?
The difference: Only two words swapped places! That’s the only difference. Did you spot it? But what a difference a simple swap of words can make. Instead of the author telling you that ‘You can be blessed’, which might come across as presumptive or even pompous, he now challenges you (politely) by asking a simple question beginning with: ‘Can you …?’ This gives the reader the option to consider; then to say “Yes I can”; or “No I can’t”. It invites the reader think. So, let’s begin our thinking:
I’ll start the story with some of my own ‘blessings’:
Have you ever received an unsolicited phone calls offering you a chance to get rich quick etc. Surely, I’m sure I’m not the only one to be thus pestered. In today’s connected world you just don’t know when you’re going to get one.
Recently I got one, and decided to use a new ‘answering tactic’:
I interrupted the caller and started to say: “Hold on! Go no-further. I’m quite happy with everything I’ve got. I am richly blessed, and what’s more, I have the best wife in the world! Please remove me from your database.” The caller hung up on me before I had finished!
But it is true. I am blessed, and no-one is better-off than me.
There are two blessings that came to me quite unexpectedly:
1. I have been blessed with a long life:
When I was in my mid-seventies, one of my older friends by the name of John, confidently prophesied that I had at least another 10 years of life in me! You see, John had participated in a local church’s ten-year time capsule event, whereby he had added his name to a list that was included in the capsule … and he asked me if I had done the same. When I said that I had, he (a man in his mid-nineties) said, without hesitation: “That means that both of us will be here when it’s opened in ten years’ time.” John: a man with positive attitude! And by-the-way … John was in his 90s at that time!!
2. I have been blessed with ‘life-after-death’!
No , I’m not getting religious (I promised!), though there is a sort-of religious connection, in that over the years, I became qualified as a Christian Preacher, first with the Methodist Church in England, and later with the Uniting Church in Australia who have a Queensland Lay Preachers’ Association. Though I have never been one to join ‘associations’ and such-like, I was, by the fact of my qualification, ‘on their books’, and in 2009 (sometime after I’d reached retirement age). I got a letter from the Queensland Lay Preachers’ Association.
I’ve copied sections of that letter (below), and the last sentence has been enlarged and re-presented below the image to help you read it more clearly:
If you have died, please advise us so that we can record on the “Deceased” listing to note the fact that you served God
So, you see: Life after death : guaranteed : and officially acknowledged. I am blessed !
I know that there are people who are worse-off than me … But I also know that there is no-one better-off than me:
· Not Royalty; · Not billionaires; · Not experts in this field and that field; · Not celebrities; · Not people in ‘high’ places; · Nor those earning big money.
No - No-one is better-off than me * I AM BLESSED : abundantly
What’s your own life like?
Do you consider yourself BLESSED or do you have a NEGATIVE ATTITUDE?
The wrong attitude can be the first step to becoming a loser.
Becoming a loser is easy: just have the wrong attitude to life. Give up on hope and faith and adopt a negative attitude and you’re guaranteed loser status.. Let me give you a real-life example of ‘How To Be A Loser’ … how a negative attitude can remove all hope. The following is a true story:
Many many years ago, in my late teens, I used to offer my limited musical skills to a church who needed an occasional piano player for their Sunday morning hymns. And every month or so I would be ‘the official organist’ (though the church didn’t have an organ!) and I would play four or five hymns on the piano for the church service. The problem was, I could only play four or five hymns properly! So those same hymns were the ones that had to be chosen, every time I was ‘on’!
Another problem was that the church didn’t have a minister, but relied on visiting preachers who would arrive prior to the service-time to be greeted by me, only to be told that “these are the hymns for today!” Most preachers were kind enough to accept what just had to be ‘the inevitable’, and on most occasions our pre-service run-through of ‘the order of service’ was a smooth and friendly chat. All this pre-service preparation was carried out in a room just off the back of the church.
One Sunday morning I was there, waiting for the visiting preacher to arrive, and when he came, I recognized him straight-away. He was one of the most pleasant and positive people you could ever meet. It was a delight to be in his company. Then, a side door to the room opened, and in came the church caretaker. He was an older fella; not very old, but he had a miserable persona.
It was well-known that he never smiled; never looked happy. He always did his job keeping the place ticking, but oh how miserable he looked. Of course, appearances can be deceptive. He may well have been a contented man. Yet for me, on that particular morning, there could not have been a more contrasting pair of people there: The preacher and The caretaker.
The preacher’s reaction (immediate reaction) on seeing the caretaker as he entered the room was so typical of his own attitude to life … He said, with a happy smiling face: “Good morning brother; how are you today?” To which the caretaker answered: “Living; just living”.
I will never forget that conversation because I will never forget the preacher’s immediate counter-response. Without hesitation, he said: “Don’t be afraid of dying brother; don’t be afraid of dying”
In that room were 3 people: The Preacher; The Piano player; The Caretaker. Which one had a negative attitude?
NEGATIVITY CAN DESTROY POTENTIAL BLESSINGS
Can we turn-around negativity and think about good things; good outcomes?
What if that caretaker had said in response to the preacher’s “How are you brother?”: “I’m good; in fact I’m gooder than good”. Can you imagine what would have happened in that room? I can, for sure … knowing that particular ‘outgoing’ preacher, I’ll tell you what would have happened:
The visiting preacher would have moved across the room towards the caretaker, with joy in his face and light in his eyes, and that man would have felt uplifted. Just by sharing positivity.
Even if, inside himself, he had wanted to say: “Living, just living”, he could have been changed; uplifted; there and then, if only he had expressed a response that was more positive. He alone, could have helped himself.
If only he had substituted a positive attitude for despair; hope for hopelessness; faith for failure … If only; if only.
“I’m Good ; in fact, I’m Gooder than Good” : a statement that can change perspectives.
But let’s be honest. It isn’t easy to turn around negative thoughts, is it? What if you think: “Things are so bad; I just can’t turn it around”?
Three Takeaways:
1. To turn things around can sometimes seem impossible
Sometimes it can seem impossible and we give up bothering; give up trying to seek a turn-around. (how about you?). We get overwhelmed by our problems and their perceived difficulties. We either switch off and just try to ‘forget’ (but we can’t really, can we?), or we acknowledge the problem, but take a pessimistic view:- that nothing will ever change. So, by not taking-up any opportunity to make change, we remain pessimistic.
Winston Churchill once said, about pessimism:
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”.
We need to seek a trigger point that will lift us from total pessimism to hope; from hope to belief … to optimism.
We need to believe that things will get better; that we will indeed, be blessed
There are many stories of people who managed to find that trigger; that point of change; that answer, but there’s only one story that matters to you; that’s your story. The story of how you managed to turn things around in your life; the story that tells about the trigger point that you found. How you managed to lift pessimism to hope and belief (especially belief in yourself).
Maybe that story is yet to be written. Maybe you are still struggling.
In our own lives, we can feel that our problems are insurmountable. If we are troubled and feel that that we are in a ‘no-get-out situation’ and we are in a pessimistic mood, we need to seek that trigger-point that will lift us from pessimism, to hope … to optimism.
If in your own life, you have, what you feel is an insurmountable problem with, say, a relationship; with your finances; with your work, or your workmates; with your friends; with those not friendly to you; with your health; with your guilt … or with your ability to forgive … and you think: “Things are so bad, I just can’t turn it around”, then you need the determination to seek - and find - that trigger-point that will lift you from total pessimism to hope; from hope to belief … to total optimism.
You need to believe that things will get better; that you will find that trigger-point; that you will indeed, be blessed
2. How are we doing with our lives?
Can we begin to see blessings in our lives … hope; faith; belief?
Can we see ‘Better Days’?
3. How are you doing with your life?
When negative thoughts come, what image do you project to your friends and your very closest loved ones? Are you projecting negativity? If so, then why not, instead, turn your negative thoughts around and say (to yourself): “I have hope; I am blessed; and better things are on the way. I know I am blessed”
“I have hope; I am blessed; and better things are on the way. I know I am blessed”
Say this whenever you hear that internal voice of negativity. Do this and you’ll change your whole image as seen by others. Begin to encourage yourself, and others will begin to encourage you.
You’ll begin to see hope; you’ll see opportunities that you didn’t see before. There may not be any sudden or magical solution (though it may feel magical when it happens).
Your life can be changed; will be changed.
Your life can be changed; will be changed.
One thing’s for sure: If you give up, you’ll never get there. If you only listen to the internal voice of negativity you’ll only be: “Living - just living” like the caretaker said in my earlier “preacher and pianist” story.
Negativity leads to failure!
Can we challenge the impossible? Can we turn things around and avoid negativity and failure?
Can we say: “I am not a failure; I am blessed!”
Turn it around. Put faith & hope at the forefront of your thinking.
In all that you think about, give faith & hope priority so that they become the only focal points that matter in your life … because they are. You will succeed in not only denouncing negativity, but your eyes will be opened to opportunities you never saw before. You will be focusing on your blessings: blessings of the past, blessings of today, and most importantly, your future blessings. They are guaranteed!
Put faith & hope at the forefront of your thinking. Focus on your blessings. Blessings of the past, blessings of today, and most importantly, your future blessings. They are guaranteed!
They are guaranteed!
This story is one of a trilogy of related stories. The other two are shown here as links: ‘Three words Can Transform Your Life’ and ‘Pessimism To Optimism’
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“I Am Blessed” was written by Fred: writer on Medium * * * * * © Fred Ogden 2022 * * * * *
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