Blessings and Stuff

I don't know why, but lately I have been thinking about blessings and stuff.  Recently I was called upon to assist with a certain situation.  During the incident the person said "I just don't know what to do anymore."  It wasn't the time or place to offer some pearls of wisdom, I merely did what I was called upon to do.  But it got me thinking.  I actually have strong feelings and opinions on the subject in question.  But what they were saying at the time was more of a statement in frustration rather than a request for advice.

A year or so ago my wife and I had a friend and her mother stay with us for a few days.  Me, being the one that expresses love through cooking, asked if the mom had any dietary restrictions.  It turned out that she was vegetarian.  I could have said "Well I'm not, she'll get what she's served" or made a boring cheese pizza and let her deal with it.  But how is that love?  How is that being a blessing?  Instead I got plenty of yummy ingredients and made a heck of a good pizza (of course I did have one with bacon for the meat eaters present.)  I hope that she was blessed, but I didn't do it to get recognized as awesome.  I did it because that's how we should love.  We may not all have the same likes and dislikes, but if I love, we can find commonality.

I also have been learning to recognize when to shut up.  My wife may some times tells me about something that has happened in her day.  Some times, all she wants is for me to listen.  When I stop listening and start formulating an answer to all her problems, I have stopped being a blessing.

I do need to follow up on that friend now that the heat of the moment has cooled off.  I won't offer unsolicited advice.  Instead I will tell them that I have thoughts on what happened and that I am available if they want to chat.

I guess what I'm saying is that being a blessing is not about me.
It sounds so basic.  But in the "me-centric" world in which we live it takes some practice.
Being a blessing is not about making us look good.  It's about serving and love in an unselfish manner.  When/if I bless someone my goal needs to be one that gives all glory to God.
That reminds me of the old song we used to sing in the Swedish Baptist church.  The song was titled Make Me a Blessing and part says:

Make me a blessing, make me a blessing,
Out of my life may Jesus shine

So there ya have it.
I'd love to read your thoughts