Be Still And Know

1 Peter 1:3-4 NLT 'All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance – an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.' I am greatly helped when thinking of blessing, both as an act of praise to God (and therefore to “bless God”) and as a receiving of help from God through the prayers of the Church (the act of giving and receiving blessings). It is in these ways that we “become blessings” for one another and offer blessings to God – by living true to who God has made us as his people. Learning to give thanks, to bless God and others, in seasons of plenty and seasons of want, gives a positive appreciation of God in all of life. That positive foundation becomes essential when life puts the squeeze on us. Ultimately, our destiny, as today’s scripture reminds us, is secure because