A Blessed Day

Dear young lady at the front desk, I wish we’d had more time to talk.

You probably tell all the guests “have a blessed day” as they leave. I’m the guy who asked, “What do you mean by blessed?” I wondered about your beliefs. “Just that good things happen for you today,” you said. I followed up, “And where do blessings come from?” It was early in the morning and you caught me off guard. “From the universe, right?” What a great conversation starter, if it really was a question. Here are a few thoughts to ponder.

For the universe to give a blessing, it must be able to think and act benevolently. Since the universe is material, does that mean the rocks of planets, burning gasses of stars, and gravitational forces in galaxies form a sentient being?

Since the universe had a beginning, wouldn’t that suggest something or Someone caused it? Such a first cause would logically have to be outside of the universe since nothing causes itself. The Someone who caused a universe of beauty and order and gave you life is the source of blessing.

You defined blessing as “good things.” Where does your sense of good and evil come from? Could a material world that just “is” produce beings that have a sense of what “ought” to be? Yet we do have a sense of what is good, righteous, and just. Once, C. S. Lewis doubted the existence of God because the world is so evil and unjust. “But how had I got this idea of just and unjust?” he wrote. “A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.” Lewis concluded that God created us with an idea of good because He is good.

That’s what I would have said that morning. Remember what I did say? “Jesus is the source of our blessings.” I think this sums it up even better: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6).

Sincerely, A Friend.  P.S. Have a blessed day!