I'm feeling deep these days, so get ready

originally published April 4 2018

It's totally true, I'm feeling so deep.

So deep, in fact, that I'd like to address the beatitudes.  Dudes.

For the uninitiated, the beatitudes are eight blessings given by Christ during the Sermon on  the Mount, recounted in the Gospel of Matthew.  Even if bible stuff isn't your thing, the beatitudes are thought provoking and poetic.  I intend to take a look at the beatitudes as they pertain to my life, in a not very scholarly way.  So, be aware, the my deepness is merely opinion.  A deep opinion to be sure, but there it is.

Here they are in their basic form:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.
Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Let's look at the first one.  Blessed are the poor in spirit:  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  

In my understanding, poor in spirit refers to people who are humble.  I'm not humble, so I think that I will not be blessed in this particular way.  But I could be wrong, and I kind of hope I am.   Blessed are they meek:  for the shall possess the land.  Well, I guess we can just forget about me possessing the land, because I have some meekness challenges for sure.

Blessed are they who mourn:  For they shall be comforted.  YAY!  I mourn!  I mourn so many things, it's crazy.  I mourn my mom like, every single day.  I love her so much and I still want to talk on the phone every day.  So, definitely mourning there.  But I mourn other things too.  Like my shortcomings, such as yelling at my kids and being snarky and mean sometimes.  And all the other shortcomings which would just bore you if I listed them all off.  AND, another thing I mourn.  I mourn all the things I won't accomplish because, well, there is just so much I want to do.  And I'll run out of time.  I'm okay with it, I'd rather be mourning what I can't accomplish than not care about accomplishing stuff.  But because of my first two beatitude dearths, I'm pretty happy to have so much to mourn.  I am TOTALLY going to be comforted. Yes, I shall be.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.  I wish that Jesus had been just a little more clear on the whole justice thing.  It's like this.  Culturally justice seems a bit like revenge or retribution.  I think he meant more like, we should all be treated fairly in dignity.  I'm not deep enough to think that up by myself, in case you were super impressed right now, I read it somewhere, and it impressed me, so just sharing the wisdom here.

Anyway, I absolutely hunger and thirst for dignity for all.  It's one of my specialities, so I'm reasonably sure I shall have my fill.  I think "fill" means "fill of justice." Happy about that one.

I think half the beatitudes is enough for this post, I don't want to overwhelm you all with my depth.

More tomorrow.