Blessings Large and Small

Neal A Maxwell (1926-2004)

When, like a big boulder, a large blessing rolls visibly into place, it is certainly noticed, appreciated, and counted. Meanwhile, however, the less-noticed, pebble-sized blessings mount up, layer upon layer. Cumulatively, the latter may out-mass many of our large blessings. Those seemingly smaller blessings are the frequent subtle signals that He is mindful of us. Because both large and small blessings reflect the beneficence of God. We need to be aware of both, thankfully and constantly, and make honest and full inventories. God’s hand is surely in the pebble-like details as well as in the large panorama, and His ways of measuring are so much better than our ways. Though He sends “rain on the just and on the unjust” [Matthew 5:45] – both the deserving and the undeserving – blessings are dispensed according to our obedience to the laws upon which they are predicated [Doctrine & Covenants 130:20-21]. Nevertheless, when God blesses us, He does it with the Malachi measure and the harvest baskets are “pressed down, and shaken together, and running over” [Luke 6:38; Malachi 3:10]. Besides, for us, blessings size is clearly not as important as the Blessing Source.