Blessed is she who believed: Luke 1:39-45

Luke 1:39-45  

James Tissot 

If there is on thing a young pregnant woman needs it is another trusted woman to talk to. So Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth also pregnant.  The young virgin and the old women well past her child bearing years both recipients of God’s grace.  Elizabeth greets Mary with the words, “blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment of God’s word.”  It got me wondering about believing and being blessed.  Can the very act of believing lead us to feel more blessed?  If we trust in the promise of God, for example that “never again will I destroy every living creature” (Genesis 8:21), will that give us the assurance and confidence to make the required changes to address our climate emergency knowing that we will be successful?  Can our choosing to believe keep us from despair and inaction?   Whether we believe or whether we choose not to believe, in God, in goodness, in human kindness, in possibility, in justice…one way or the other we make a choice that is not based on proof.  Blessing comes to those who believe.   

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