The Buoyancy of Blessing

The Buoyancy of Blessing.  It’s the little things that stack up under our arms and lift us up. Like Aaron and Hur lifted Moses’ arms against fatigue during the battle, we need help from outside sources when the day is long, and the task is unfinished. We need buoyancy. And buoyancy we certainly have from the Lord, which happily includes each time the Lord has worked through others to bring us blessing. Sometimes that buoyancy comes in big ways, like healing and forgiveness, but the little things like love and kindness seem to tip the balance against gravity and bring us back to the surface. A forgotten song that was meaningful a decade ago plays on the radio. A campfire that catches from just one match. A long-hand letter arrives in the mail. A warm mug of strong, black tea resting beside an oversized chair where a good book from the library waits. A refund check from overpayment surprises the bank account. These blessings raise our noses above the waterline when our arms get tired from treading water in the deep.

"Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword" (Exo. 17:11-13).

The buoyancy of blessing opens our awareness to other buoyant blessings that have never been properly thanked, or properly connected to the Giver. A furnace kicks on as it should when the first frost kisses the rooftop. A pair of broken-in, leather work gloves yields to new work in the yard. Finding the cold side of the pillow at night and the warm side of the quilt in the morning, homemade soup with crusty bread, Orion standing watch in the night sky, the replanted hydrangea taking root in its new spot, the geese heading south in V-formation—for these things, I thank you, O Lord. With the buoyancy of these blessings, and thousands more besides, you have enabled us once again to raise up the anthem, “The Lord is my Banner”; to place “a hand upon the throne of the Lord” (Exo. 17:15, 16).