Please Don’t Steal My Blessing
Receiving First, Then Letting Love Continue
Something I’ve Noticed Over Time
There have been many times in my life when I’ve had the opportunity for something good to pass through me to someone else.
A gift.
A moment of care.
Something that met a need at just the right time.
And I’ve watched people receive that with a kind of gratitude that feels real and unguarded.
But occasionally, something else happens.
Some feel the need to pay me back.
Why That Doesn’t Sit Right
And while I understand the heart behind it, there’s something in me that quietly says,
"Please don’t steal my blessing". (Terri Dawn)
Not because I don’t appreciate the thought, but because what they’re trying to repay didn’t begin with me.
It came through me.
And when something meant as a gift becomes something that needs to be settled, it loses the freedom it was meant to carry.
How Love Actually Moves
Love doesn’t keep accounts.
It doesn’t move in straight lines where something is given and then returned to the same place.
It moves outward.
Jesus said, “Freely you have received; freely give.”
That’s the rhythm of it.
You receive what you didn’t earn, and somewhere along the way, you find yourself giving in the same way.
The Part We Don’t Always Notice
Receiving can be the harder part.
It asks you to let go of the need to even the score and to simply accept what’s being offered.
And that can feel vulnerable.
Because it reminds you that you’re not the source.
But maybe that’s not something to resist.
Maybe that’s where the freedom is.
What This Life Begins To Look Like
Over time, you begin to see it differently.
The gift doesn’t need to return to you to be complete. It was never meant to.
It was meant to keep going.
And you begin to trust that what has come to you will find its way through you.
You were never the source.
You are part of something that is moving—quietly, faithfully, from one life to another.
There is a kind of rest in that. You receive, and when the moment comes, you give.
Because love doesn’t circle back to be repaid, it moves forward, becoming life in someone else.
Reflection
Where do I find it difficult to simply receive what’s given?
When have I tried to “pay back” something that was meant to be passed on?
Who might be blessed by what I’ve already received?
Prayer
Abba Father, thank You for the way Your love reaches me through others. Help me receive it freely and let it move through me without holding onto it. Teach me to live in the freedom of flowing love. Amen.