Blessed From Above- Day 18

Today I am grateful for:

Hand-Me-Down Blessings

I was reflecting on the indirect sources of our blessings. Of course all blessings come from Heavenly Father but through what channels? Some blessings come through our hard work, like a promotion at work or a righteous posterity. But most often Heavenly Father works through other people to bless us. Our lives are richly blessed through the sacrifice and generosity of others! The fact that I live in a country with religious and political freedoms comes from no effort on my part. I suppose I may have earned that priviledge in the pre-mortal world but in this life I have not done anything to bring about these freedoms. Those freedoms are a hand-me-down blessing, a blessing generations past has earned for us. Having the gospel in my life is a hand-me-down blessing from my ancestors that recognized the truth of the gospel and made great sacrifices to pursue it. As I look around my home I see the results of the generosity and love of others, particularly our family. Pretty much everything we own is from other people. All our furniture (except our bed) are from other people. Most my kids' clothes (and a lot of mine) come from the generous shopping efforts of my mother and mother-in-law. Most toys, appliances, and decorations come through gifts of Christmas past. The other household goods come from kind wedding gifts. Even the stuff we do buy are usually hand-me-downs but still in good condition which means some kind stranger was generous enough to donate these to the stores we bought them from. Although new things may seem more valuble, there is much to be said of hand-me-downs. They hold sentimental value and remind me of the love of my Heavenly Father to place people in my life that bless my family with their generosity. And it gives me resolve to pay it forward. I think that is a greater blessing than having a lot of money to buy everything you want. This source of blessings teaches us humility, helps us acknowledge our Father's hand in our lives, gives others an opporunity to serve, give us a greater desire to serve, remind us in a very literal sense that all things are merely on loan to us from our Heavenly Father and we must be willing to share.