Blessed Assurance

A Reflection on the Psalm ​for Sunday, October 6th, 2024:
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 128

R.​May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you. 

R.​May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. 

R.​May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.

Thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. 

​R.​May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

As I wrestled with lines in this psalm, this question arose, as if God was responding to my frustration: “How would you define ‘blessing’ in your life?” In attempting to answer His question, I reflected on the word blessing as it relates to gifts in my life. As I prayed in gratitude for my many gifts and blessings this morning, the added weight of reflecting on my traumas and my pain as “blessed” challenged me. Has God blessed me through these things? I hesitate to admit that He has. The incidents themselves were not the blessing. No. It was the fruit of His redemptive love through those experiences that became blessings of more magnitude than anything I could have expected or contrived of my own accord.

These are the fruits of the vine. The vine is life-giving, though it sometimes feels as though I am constrained by or entangled in it. Yet it is in those times when life strips me bare that new growth – bright, green, perfect, and soft – begins to sprout from the dry, dead remains of my past. It is in the closing of one door that enables me to turn and see the multifaceted light streaming through the window of vast dimension and colour that He is calling me to. It is through the experience of difficult and painful relationships that He gives me new opportunities to be restored through the hearts and hands of healthy, loving, and safe vessels of grace. But the true blessing is the way that His love takes the coarse, rough, sometimes sharp edges of me and gently smooths them into a surrendered and peaceful harbour that others can also take refuge in.

Once again I face this seemingly endless journey toward a surrendered disposition. I have recently found myself haunted by the past as old memories resurfaced, and my heart moved into a familiar pattern of protection, rebuilding walls that had already been knocked down and isolating for fear of injuring those whom I love. In the midst of this state of unrest, my ability to perceive the blessings of God is muted. The only way through this is in faithfulness to Him – I must continue to walk in His ways. 

There is that old adage, “Fake it till you make it,” which I actually reject. But it alludes to the truth that continuing to place myself in the hands of those who speak truth and comfort, continuing to redirect my gaze to His eternal Love, will foster my faithfulness. It’s not fake; it’s an act of trust in the known Truth. It’s a practice that’s more like, “Do it till He proves it.” I continually lay myself – my self-protection, my wounds, my fears – in His hands until His beautiful, blessed purpose is revealed, pressing me through the rough into the diamond as His peace settles into my bones.

As I reach this crescendo in my prayer, a crowd of soccer fans in the distance is cheering loudly – or perhaps Jesus has enlisted the communion of angels and saints to cheer me on as I engage with Him in this good work that He intends to bear much fruit through. 

Close your eyes. Listen. They’re cheering for you too.




Lori MacDonald

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