This word, imo, is used too much, and is used so much, it's not always appropriate.

My friend lives in the St. Louis area where a tornado recently went through making shard slivers out of the glass at Lambert while tossing planes around like they were matchbox toys.

She says she's blessed because it didn't affect her area.

Huh? Is she special? Are the folks at Lambert and the surrounding areas any less special because they weren't blessed? I think she just says the word and never gives a thought as to what she is really saying. Others, too, it's just this incident that struck me how people think and what they say.

dl

I live in St. Louis. I'm about a half hour from the airport and maybe 5 minutes from where the New Year's Eve tornado hit. I wouldn't say we were blessed, just a lot luckier than other people.

I'll admit it's a strange comment.

At the same time, I am glad people can sometimes realize and express that they realize they are fortunate. I also really appreciate it when someone who has been directly touched/impacted by hard times is able to say that "It could have been worse- it is a blessing that nobody was hurt," etc.

Interestingly, it reminds me of when someone expecting a baby says "I don't mind what I have - as long as it's HEALTHY." Well, what if he or she isn't healthy? Is being unhealthy actually a deal-breaker?

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"The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief." - Thomas Russell

from dictionary.com:
BLESSED- characterized by happiness or good fortune

I'd say that the areas not ravaged by the tornado were characterized by good fortune--or "blessed"
*shrug* to me, people use "blessed" to indicate they realize that their life could be much worse.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

you beat me to it Marilyn...lol

I get what you mean dl, but I think people are just expressing their thankfulness at having been spared. Not expressing their "specialness" .

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Melissa

DL, I know what you mean. It seems odd at some of the times when people say it. It reminds me of when people credit a good thing/outcome to "the power of prayer". Well, what about people that don't pray or have an entire congregation praying for them?? Are they out of luck?? doomed?? So many things like this really make me wonder..... hmmmmm.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Dl not to start any problems sincerely okay but I know I always used the word peace and truly always mean't it when I wrote it. I know I also stopped for awhile but decided it is sort of my trade mark . I then decided with all my problems that have be going on in my personal life to add blessings. When I write blessings I am offering sincere good health and happy blessings to all here on the board. Life is so hard lately for so many people and I personally feel the more people say it towards each other if they sincerely mean it, it will help perhaps make our world a better place. I also have used peace at mycoupons.com for my trades, I use both words for all my emails and also for all my posts at facebook. I say it so much to all the people I meet. I am very big on manners, I was raised that way, to say thank you, your welcome, please , may I. Again perhaps if more people showed more respect and kindness to our fellow men and women, we would have more peace in this world. Instead of all the hatred and perhaps just perhaps our young children and teenagers would not be so disrepectable as they are. Thanks so much.. Peace and blessings... Catherine

Wow! I really think ya'll are over-thinking what people say.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Marilyn okay ready everyone I totally agree with you on your last statement, it is only mean't for me as a kind gesture, honestly when I am walking in the malls and I hear the way some teenagers talk, my mouth drops, what happend to all our manners, when I was younger I would or could never ever speak that way and I literally hate the F.... word or theC.... word so disgusting... Peace and blessings to all... Catherine

Perhaps a more appropriate word other than special would have been lucky, selected, favored, or taken care of. I should add that she professes to be very religious - and for the most part, when I am told to have a blessed day, etc, or see it used, it has definite religious roots. My friends who are not so religious do not constantly use the word blessing.

aia is right, and when people say "the Lord will provide" how is it he provides for some, but not others? Another is "God forbid I should die", and the reality is we all die, no one gets out of here alive.

lucy, I was in no way singling you out for using blessings, but it further proves my point how people are just using the word. Peace, on the other hand, (imo) has a more earth/people friendly tone to it, not so much religious. I think since you brought it up with people feeling it was overused, I am at that point with blessings, be they bright or not.

I do not agree my friend was blessed and so many others were not.

dl

I was worried I'm going to St Louis for work on Friday and the man on the radio said airport closed "indefinitely" so I was fearing a diversion. I got up this morning and it's all fixed. I guess "indefinite" doesn't mean what it used to lol.

I just called the hotel to make sure it's okay. The hotel is actually in St Peters. When I asked if the recent weather affected the hotel she said "no not yet" ??? Should I be worried? I was thinking that since this happened I'd be safe.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

As a faith-centered person, this is what I mean if I use that word:

The Bible indicates that 'the rain falls on the good and the bad.' It also says that 'every good and perfect gift is from above.'

So from my perspective, if I am 'blessed' or receive a 'blessing', I just mean that something good (and perhaps unexpected) occurred to me, and I attribute that gift to God. I don't think that he is necessarily showing 'favor' to me above others... just that it *is* a good thing and that he is the *giver* of good things. And he gives good things to people regardless of whether the recipient even believes in him.

That said, I also believe that God can intervene in what is laid out as the 'natural course of events' if someone petitions him. In those situations, I also think that the 'fortunate occurrence' is a blessing - a gift.

But it's not that *I* am special. It's that God gives good things, and when I'm the recipient, I am mindful of and give credit to the Giver.

So, how would you respond to this if someone said it? And, furthermore, did not enough people pray for all of St. Louis to be spared??

Not overthinking, IMO, just thinking in general, since DL posted this. Kind of like other posts that sometimes you stop and say "gee, I never really thought about that...." and then you DO think about it. Are you totally confused yet

Just my personal view on it.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I think that it is a blessing that none in St. Louis died.

I also think that sometimes, even bad situations can be the set-up for unanticipated blessings. People lose jobs and then sometimes find that their next job is a better one, and but for the initial job loss they would never have looked for the next one. People can lose everything in a storm, and that experience can provide lessons about life and the importance of people over things that mature them and change them for the better.

Nobody likes the crappy times... but they mold us and shape us for the better if we let them... and that is a blessing.

I would respond that yes, a person was blessed if they weren't touched by a tornado. I would respond that there is power in prayer.
I think most people are thankful when they aren't touched by tragedy. I think people who believe in prayer feel that their prayers are answered.
Those are their beliefs--those beliefs may be what keeps them able to make it through each and every day. Who am I to try and take away their beliefs in something that I can neither prove or disprove??

The truly faithful will tell you that prayers are answered---just not always in the way they expected.

I'm of the school that everything happens for a reason; whether it's a "blessing" or not.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I guess I always take "blessed" as something positive. That being said I don't think that those affected by disaster, or those struck by illness, or the losing team, etc is less favored by God or doesn't deserve to be "blessed".
When I send "blessings" to people I am simply wishing them luck, happiness, etc.
Just because the people who didn't get any damage or trouble or won or whatever are "blessed" that doesn't mean those who were affected or lost, etc aren't "blessed".
And yes often trouble, etc is a "blessing" in disguise.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

And imagine how annoying it is when you don't believe! And gotta love all the recent "let's pray for this or that". And when did politics and religion become ONE? UGH! When did the Republican party become the "Christian" party and the Democrats become the "Satanic Party"...HAHAHAHA!

Yes it's quite annoying to us non-believers! When you don't believe in all that silliness, it just seems so ignorant! Personally if someone wants to believe, that's their business but don't expect that everyone shared those same beliefs.

Since when did it become ok to call someone ignorant that believes differently than you do? What is silliness to me is that someone dismisses historical, documented evidence that Jesus Christ lived, was crucified and rose again.

I don't believe that the Republican party is the Christian party, or that Democrats are satanic. THAT is silliness.

I certainly do not expect people to share my beliefs, but do expect that they would respect them. Especially those that expect "tolerance" for their beliefs. Doesn't seem to go both ways these days though.

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Melissa

Wow....there is a song out right now that speaks to what your talking about...

What if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know Your near?
What if trials of this life....are Your mercies in disguise?

I see blessings everywhere these days. What God allows into my life shapes me and is allowed to make me more like Him.

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Melissa

No need to get SNIPPY! HA! You believe what you want to and I'll not believe in what I don't want to. There has been nothing in my life that has proven to me there's a god. A tree growing to me doesn't prove that there's a god, a baby being born doesn't offer proof of a god either.

Not being snippy. Characterize it how you want. Just showing the other side of the coin, that's all.

And I wasn't talking about anything besides historical evidence for what you were calling silly.

There are many, many and have been through the ages, very intelligent people who believe in God and his blessings because of the evidence. Not because a flower blooms and a tree grows, or a child is conceived.

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Melissa

Not all who pray are actually praying to "God"---there are so many different belief systems!

Not all that think they are "blessed" think that way because they are religious.

Really? I think people are just too damned sensitive!
I'm agnostic...I believe that the Bible is a really good book--based on some fact and some fiction. I believe that sometimes people cling to religion because they dont know anything else--conversely, I believe some cling to religion because they do know!

But, I have seen enough things in my own life to presume that *I* can do everything by myself.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

The beatitudes in Matthew and Luke suggest that perhaps it is those touched by the tornados who are blessed?

I personally am also a huge believer in fate, I know some will agree and some will disagree. As far as people being blessed with say a wonderful life as compared to people who are born disfigured or very poor and die very young and suffer so much, I am on the fence with that one not sure which way to lean. I try my hardest to believe that in life you choose your own destiny and just how your life is planned out either you go down the right road or the wrong road is up to you, that is as far as I am concerned with my life. Again however some people whom are effected with my problems in their life choose the wrong path with drugs and alcohol and die before their time. There are so many senerios it is so hard to choose. It honestly goes really deep and I know I will never have all the answers. However when I do offer and say peace and blessings I am saying to be nice to the person. As far as religion goes that is a whole different suituation, and we have discussed it before while I am a catholic I do not believe all that is written in the bible nor do I follow it, there is alot I believe and there is alot I do not. However it is the only religion I know and I do find comfort in being religious to a point, I can only speak for myself on that subject and I personally feel religion is a personal subject. Peace and blessings to all...Catherine

I agree with you.