” But when you do a kindness to someone, do it secretly—don’t tell your left hand what your right hand is doing.
And your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.”
My goal for this blog is to inform and inspire us all to explore the HEART of health in our lives, and the lives of our families and communities.
But beyond that, my the mission for this blog is
to share the HEART of health with people all over the world,
especially those who face hardship due to poverty, isolation, discrimination, political turmoil, hunger, homelessness, human rights violations, and natural disasters.
Just as there may be many ways to define or describe being blessed, there are many ways to define health or describe being healthy. I addressed this in a previous post that I hope you will read.
This section of the Bible book Matthew is known as The Beatitudes.
Matthew recorded these lessons that Jesus taught in his “Sermon on the Mount” , some of the most well known and often quoted verses of the Bible.
The Beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-10
The dictionary defines beatitude as “a state of utmost bliss or supreme blessedness.”
Beatitude inherited its blessedness from the Latin word beatus, meaning both “happy” and “blessed.” In the Bible, the Beatitudes are a series of eight blessings, such as “Blessed are those poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And in 1958 writer Jack Kerouac coined the term “The Beat Generation” because he felt its members were seeking beatitude. (vocabulary.com)
Most modern English translations of the Bible use the words blessed or happy in these verses. The Easy-to-Read version calls it “great blessings.”
The Amplified Bible lives up to its name using several different words to express these sentiments. These include
spiritually prosperous, happy, to be admired
forgiven, refreshed by God’s grace
inwardly peaceful, spiritually secure, worthy of respect
joyful, nourished by God’s goodness
anticipating God’s presence, spiritually mature
spiritually calm with life-joy in God’s favor
comforted by inner peace and God’s love
morally courageous and spiritually alive with life-joy in God’s goodness
Just as there may be many ways to define or describe being blessed, there are many ways to define health or describe being healthy. I addressed this in a previous post that I hope you will read.
Spiritual Wellness – what brings, peace, harmony, and purpose to our lives.
Our sense of ethics, morals, right, and wrong is usually based on what we believe to be true and meaningful, and likely involves faith and support for an organized belief system or religion. Without belief in something, our lives can drift aimlessly and we can fall into restlessness, doubt our purpose, and lose hope for the future.
Both states-blessed and healthy– may be determined
not by what we have, but by who we are,
not by what we get, but what we give,
not by chasing them, but by living them.
Maybe they are both a journey, not a destination.
I’ve written more about the Beatitudes and other lessons from the Sermon on the Mount. Here is one.
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)
“I would run my finger along those phases, wondering if those words could really be true. If I pursue your ways, God, will you really satisfy that which is hungry in me?”
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