Joyful Witness / Kimberly Pohovey

And I thought to myself, ‘how blessed am I?’

Meandering through an Irish estate gorgeously lush with vibrant flowers, the largest ferns I have ever seen and ancient trees, I closed my eyes taking in the wonder of this enchanted place and the thoughts swirling in my mind were, “How blessed am I?”

I stood looking out at the vast body of water, incredibly separated into three distinctly different stunning shades of blue, on a surprisingly sunny day on the Ring of Kerry along the Irish coastline, and I thought to myself, “How blessed am I?”

Looking out the back patio of our rental house in Greece, I gazed upon the most dazzling sunset over the crystal blue waters of the Aegean Sea against the backdrop of ancient Greek ruins, and I asked myself, “How blessed am I?”

Scooting along the foothills in the mountain region of the island of Naxos in Greece, I spotted dozens of private, residential, spectacularly white chapels dotting the countryside, and again I pondered, “How blessed am I?”

Throughout my recent travels to both Ireland and Greece, I spent time in reflection at many of the sights we visited. I thanked God for the chance to witness such unbelievable beauty. And the thought “How blessed am I?” continued to permeate my thoughts. Who am I to have this opportunity to see such wonders? Who am I to experience the inward joy of being blessed?

A big focus of my prayer life is gratitude. I am cognizant of all the incredible blessings in my life—be it family, friends, faith, health and so much more. But contemplating how blessed I was to see such amazing sights, I began to question, “Why am I, among all humans on Earth, blessed?

Perplexed, I turned to Scripture and found this line from the Acts of the Apostles: “… nor is he [God] served by human hands because he needs nothing. Rather, it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

I imagine God blesses us not because of who we are or what we can do for him, but because of how great his love is for us. Then, on Google I queried, “why am I blessed by God?” and found this nugget from a reader’s comment: “The life and situation of each individual is divinely appointed by God that we should seek and find him.” That really struck me.

I have long known that God works in mysterious ways, but I began to understand that every blessing God grants us is an opportunity to not only find him but share him with others too.

Maybe I was blessed by the chance to experience such beauty so I could then turn to him in gratitude. And just maybe, others might be grateful through the sharing of my experiences.
 

(Kimberly Pohovey is a member of St. Jude Parish in Indianapolis. She is the director of major and planned gifts for the archdiocese.) †