Kayaking and Plein Air...Blessing Defined

Kayaking, plein air painting, and a little daddy-daughter time...does it get any better than this? You know you're a recipient of God's grace and blessing when you can enjoy all these different passions all at the same time.

We often use the phrase "we're blessed". But what does it mean to be blessed and how do you measure it? Do we measure and define it by the annual income that you report to the IRS every year? By the popularity that a name may offer? By the awards or degrees that hang on your wall? These are all nice things to have I suppose. However, these things are temporary. They have no eternal value. Being blessed is not measured in the temporal materialism or fleeting emotions... being blessed is measured in our completeness in God...finding our all satisfaction in Him. 

To say that blessed simply means "happy" is to come short of a full biblical definition of that often used term "blessed". We usually think of happiness as that fleeting emotion that is dependent upon outside circumstances. When you itch all night due to the numerous chigger and mosquito bites from playing in the woods...your happiness will probably go south like mine did. Or, when your name gets called because you won some grand prize, your happiness will pick right back up. This is usually the typical definition of this roller-coaster ride that we call happiness. Blessedness is not that way.

 It's hard to be "happy" when you have to lug a kayak and painting gear through the woods while the mosquitos feast on your tender skin.

Blessedness does not depend on outer circumstances but depends on an inner satisfaction that only God can produce in you. When you read Matthew 5 and the infamous "beatitudes" of which Jesus spoke, you must understand that these character traits do not produce this blessedness...but this blessedness produces the character traits.

So, the question is, are you blessed? Has God performed a work in your heart so that that you produce the fruit of a satisfied, complete, blessed life which results not just in happiness, but true deep-rooted joy? Does your conduct prove your character? 

My nephew, Aaron learning to kayak.

Poppie assisting Ashleigh while Ellie and Aaron unpatiently wait their turn.

"Riverbend"

8x10 acrylic on masonite painted en plein air

Here's the plein air painting that I painted that day located on the Uwharrie River in Randolph County, NC .