Blessed vs Blessed

Luke 6: 20-23

20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.

22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

Yesterday my mind stayed on the verses in Matthew called the Beatitudes. As I’ve mentioned before, most of the time I like to read my King James version of the Bible mainly because that is what I began with and memorized verses in GA’s (Girls Auxiliary). I also like my NIV study Bible and my Life Application Bible. When I read the Beatitudes, I always say Bless-ed be… I’m not sure why other than what I have heard all my life.

Last year in Sunday School we began studies in Matthew and ran into the question as to if the word blessed in Matthew 5 was pronounced blessed or bless-ed. I suppose it doesn’t really doesn’t matter much except when you dig deeper and begin to think how the word gets translated and how it’s used in our English language today and then how it relates to us personally. I remembered that I made notes and went to find them in my journal. It seems the word “bless-ed” means something like a congratulation or approval by God. Translations from Greek word makarios found in both the Matthew 5 and Luke 6 writings of the Beatitudes do not carry the secular sense of happy or fortunate. At the same time, if you find yourself bless-ed you surely would be blessed, wouldn’t you?

When a person says “I am blessed” that usually means that God did something for them, that they are happy or fortunate. When a person says “I am bless-ed” that usually relates to the nature, constitution or condition of that person. It’s the difference between using the word as an adjective, noun or past tense verb. This confusion, which I fully admit I still have, is all the more proof that translators have a HUGE job.

As I thought more about being bless-ed or being blessed, I decided I wanted both. I want God to approve of me and I want to reap the rewards of being approved. I want to be bless-ed and I want to be blessed. I’ll think on this some more, I’m sure.



Today's photo is of a favorite tea cup of mine. I got it a couple of years ago as a present to myself while shopping in the gift shop of Kanapaha Gardens in Florida. When I want to feel really prissy with my tea making I pull out this cup. As you can see, it has it's own strainer and a lid to keep the tea warm until it's brewed just the way you want it. I've looked for others like it but haven't seen any. I'd like to have at least another one so I could share my little secret ritual with a friend. In the meantime, I guess Cocoa Puff won't feel too left out. I don't think she likes tea that much.

Happy earth day. :)