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Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will\u2014to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God\u2019s grace that he lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:3-8a)

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God\u2019s blessings are indeed rich.\xa0 All that we have is a gift of God, and God likes giving gifts.

For sure, we might say.\xa0 We know that\u2019s true.\xa0 That\u2019s the Christian stuff we believe alright.\xa0 But looking around us, it sure doesn\u2019t feel very true.\xa0

We hardly see other people, and when we do, we\u2019re accustomed now to treating them with the actions of suspicion and mistrust: we keep our distance, shield our faces, and remain vigilant and cautious.\xa0 This loss of social graces isn\u2019t what we want to do, but it\u2019s what we\u2019ve been trained to do in the new normal of our lives.\xa0 We\u2019ve lost the capacities and skills to be with other people.\xa0 And that doesn\u2019t seem like a blessing.\xa0 Nor do the continuing health restrictions.\xa0 Nor do the continuing campaigns to induce compliance though fear of the numbers.\xa0 Nor do any number of other things.

Of course, people have faced much worse down through the ages.\xa0 Christians have too.\xa0 And those Christians have continued to affirm these words of Ephesians, even in the worst of it.\xa0

Because God has blessed us.\xa0 We need to be reminded of it sometimes and invited to see it again behind the shadowy veil of our present circumstances.\xa0 Listen in again.\xa0 God has chosen us, created us, and filled us with purpose. That purpose being nothing more nor less than becoming a part of God\u2019s own family.\xa0 Because we are.\xa0 We\u2019ve been redeemed and forgiven through Christ, and now belong to the family of God to the praise of his glorious grace, lavished on us.\xa0

The blessing is belonging.\xa0 When no one sees us anymore these days: God sees us.\xa0 When no one choses us to be the ones they reach out to with visits, calls, or cards: God reaches out to us.\xa0 When our lives feel adrift and purposeless: God reminds us that our very presence in his family brings glory to him and gives him great joy and delight such that he smiles on us.\xa0 When we feel most lonely and alone, God reminds us: we still have a community and a family of belonging with Him.\xa0

We long for the day when those blessings are made tangible in a way we can see and touch.\xa0 But even now, Jesus invites us to place our hope in him, because in him, we are not forgotten, but rather are specially chosen and blessed children of the Father who have a place, a home of belonging with him.\xa0

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