Shooting Blessings

The following excerpt is adapted from my first book, Filled Up, Poured Out: How God’s Spirit Can Revive Your Passion and Purpose:

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Driving down Main Street, several years ago with my little girl in the back seat, I glanced in the rearview mirror, and caught her aiming a finger gun at unsuspecting pedestrians. “Pow! Pow! Pow!”

“Hannah, cut that out!” I scolded, “It’s not nice. We don’t shoot people; we bless them.”

After riding in silence for a few minutes, she started up again—this time with two fingers, “Pow! Pow! Pow!”

“Hannah, didn’t I tell you to stop shooting people?”

“But Daddy,” she replied, “this time, I’m shooting blessings!”

Shooting blessings requires a few essentials.

Positive Energy
Some folks run on positive juice, and others run on negative. We bring blessing with the positive.

Encouraging Words
Everyone’s imperfect, but we must look for the good rather than finding fault. Building up others is called edification, and this begins at home. Are you speaking your most encouraging words to those closest to you?

We all need encouragement, but that won’t come in families or communities bent on devouring one another. Focus on the good in each other.

Common Ground
An attitude of superiority is easily detected and alienates us from others. We must remember that we are no better than anybody else. We are all made of the same stuff.

Mission Enlistment
One of the best ways to bless people is to get them to help you serve others. An invitation to join you in helping those in need is a great way to bring a blessing. You can’t bless somebody else without being blessed yourself.

The Big Yes Bias
When it comes to blessing people, we should always have a “Yes, I care about you” attitude, and every “no” must be spoken within the context of the bigger “yes.” The art of gracious refusal is a valuable skill to learn.

How you treat others is more important than just about anything else. Poet Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Comments

  1. I'm learning how important it is to verbalize changes in behavior through suggestion, and redirect young people....a few well timed comments does change lives!

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