Blessings

How do you explain "being blessed" or what it means to be "blessed by God" to a group of first graders?  My husband posed this question yesterday and it has turned out to be more difficult to answer than I would have originally thought.

Blessed is defined as being divinely or supremely favored, fortunate or having good fortune.  See, this is where the problem lies...we are taking our words and subsituting them for God's words.  I have a huge issue with the word "blessed" and how we throw it around these days.  I feel like our definition of blessed and God's definition of blessed could not be further apart.  We have taken our words, our desires and our perceptions and messed it all up...at least I have.  We deem ourselves or others as blessed if nothing bad happens to them.  Seriously, I really don't know how to put it much more simple than that.  I could go into detail or sugar coat it a bit, but I would just be dancing around that one statement.  You are seen as "blessed" in this world if you lead a happy, wealthy, healthy, good fortune kind of life.  The one thing that all of that stuff has in common is that it is all based on our circumstances.  

God never intends for us to determine our level of blessings by looking around at what everyone else has or to judge our blessings based on what we don't have.  His definition is different from ours.   When Christ delievered the Sermon on the Mount in the book of Matthew chapter 5, He spoke about being blessed when foks insult you and speak awful things about you and persecute you (that's in verse 11 and that is my pitiful attempt at paraphrasing it). That kind of being "blessed" does not line up with the world's definition of being "blessed" at all, does it?  Nor does verses 3-5, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn and blessed are the meek...mourning, being meek or poor in spirit doesn't necessarily go with the American dream either, does it?

I certainly can't speak for God's definition of blessed because I am the first in line to mess things up and get it wrong. However, I do feel like it comes from within, from a relationship.  It is a happiness and and joy that is not based on circumstance.  We are all supremely favored by God. He desires a relationship with all of us.  He loves us so much that He laid down His life for us.  He took our sin upon Him.  He defeated death so that we may have life...We are Blessed!!

The blessings we typically speak of are temporary, the blessings God desires for each of us are eternal.  Let's seek the blessing of fulfillment and purpose in Christ.  Hope y'all have a wonderful God-centered Thanksgiving.