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“Not Lucky, but Blessed”
I saw this on a T-Shirt and it rubbed me the wrong way. I assume that the person wearing it was not LDS.
Interestingly, I have seen other apparel that just say “blessed” and it doesn’t bother me.
I feel that the phrase “not lucky, but blessed” posits that someone might see the wearer of the shirt enjoying various privilidge and says something like “Wow. So Lucky.” And it is at this point that the wearer of the T-Shirt corrects the person making the comment, “No I am not lucky, I am blessed.”
This to me feels like a certain amount of entitlement. As if to say that I deserve my privilidge because of my decisions, or actions, or because I belong to a certain group, or because of my personal relationship with Jesus.
Am I reading to much into this? Is there an interpretation where the wearer is doing an Ammon from the BoM –
Quote:“I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.”
I often hear that said audibly in my area. I’ve always interpreted it as a combination of humility and recognition of god’s hand in their lives. I haven’t got the impression that people were saying they deserved or earned a blessing, I get the impression that they’re saying that everything that’s good about their life came from god.
Like the portion of LDS prayers that are reserved for thanking god for things but reduced down to, “I’m blessed.”
I am not fond of seeing “Blessed” merch – but that is a “me” thing probably. A) I lean towards a deist/agnostic point of view about God. The “I’m Grateful” vibe to me begs the tongue-in-cheek question, “How do you KNOW that God had anything to do with it?”.
– There is an assumption that God was involved.
– There is an assumption that your personal actions had little to nothing to do with it (also tilts into the Calvinism and “Divinely Fated” narrative).
It is mostly a fad among women (in my experience). I am aware of my “loose cannon” feminism because I can’t “perform gender” properly sustainably. I am careful to “read a room” of women to see what they need me to be to not antagonize them. Even on more generously deist days, it still virtue-signals to me, “I belong to this exclusive club of womenhood and you don’t – neener, neener, neener”. C) There is also the whole if there is a “Blessed” group, then there is also a “Cursed” group (the gospel principle “Opposition in all things”). I don’t subscribe to either group existing as a category from God. As a parent, I don’t have a “cursed group” of children, nor do I have a “blessed group” of children. My children are themselves, with unique gifts and unique disadvantages.
Even if there are “cursed” traits, I like to think that the “best good” that can come from them is the “who did sin” rebuttal from the blind man and his parents. Jesus taught clearly that “Neither the man [cursed with blindness] nor his parents [who dealt with the ramifications of raising a blind son] were cursed, but the purpose of the experience was to “make manifest the Glory of God” I just don’t see the “glory of God being made manifest” in “Blessed” Merch.
AmyJ wrote:
It is mostly a fad among women (in my experience). I am aware of my “loose cannon” feminism because I can’t “perform gender” properly sustainably. I am careful to “read a room” of women to see what they need me to be to not antagonize them. Even on more generously deist days, it still virtue-signals to me, “I belong to this exclusive club of womenhood and you don’t – neener, neener, neener”.
Right. I do read into it a sort of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” message.
I do support people being humble and thankful by “counting their blessings.” Unfortunately, it seems less humble to emblazon your “blessings” on a T-shirt.
Roy wrote:
Interestingly, I have seen other apparel that just say “blessed” and it doesn’t bother me.I feel that the phrase “not lucky, but blessed” posits that someone might see the wearer of the shirt enjoying various privilidge and says something like “Wow. So Lucky.” And it is at this point that the wearer of the T-Shirt corrects the person making the comment, “No I am not lucky, I am blessed.”
This to me feels like a certain amount of entitlement. As if to say that I deserve my privilidge because of my decisions, or actions, or because I belong to a certain group, or because of my personal relationship with Jesus.
Am I reading to much into this?
Seeing shirts like that rub me the wrong way, but for different reasons. In general, I dislike merch with feel good words on them (blessed, abundance, harvest, live laugh love, etc…)
:sick: Perhaps this is me reading too much into it as well, but people who I meet who decorate with and wear things with words like that tend to strike me as a bit shallow. But, as much as clothes and decorations like that annoy me, I don’t think they’re a bad thing. It’s not a bad mentality to have. Though, I agree with you that it seems to be lacking humility.But on to the luck vs blessed topic. I do subscribe to the idea that all good things come from God. I like Uchtdorf’s analogy of blessings being like rainfall and sin being like an umbrella. It’s not ‘doing good = earning a blessing’, but more like living the Gospel creates the conditions to receive more blessings. That’s how I like to think of it anyway.
Now, that’s not to say everyone who lives in Beverly Hills is necessarily blessed by God. Money can very well be a curse for some people. But that’s its own rabbit hole of a discussion.
Would you see a distinction between a shirt that says, “Blessed” vs. a shirt that says, “Not Lucky, but Blessed”? For instance, one shirt just makes a statement, the other is like it’s correcting people before making the statement.
nibbler wrote:
Would you see a distinction between a shirt that says, “Blessed” vs. a shirt that says, “Not Lucky, but Blessed”?
I’d say yes and no. Yes, because there is technically a difference in meaning.
No, because the person wearing it probably hasn’t put that much thought into it. I imagine the person is wearing the shirt because they like the saying, rather than intending to preemptively correct people passing by.
I agree Roy. I suppose it has some to do with written text as opposed to spoken words, but the way I read it there is a bit of arrogance or “specialness” to such a statement. I understand it can be read/interpreted differently but when I read something I’m probably going with my first gut reaction. Living in an area where members are an extreme minority with no neighbor who are members, it’s hard to look around and say I’m any more (or less) blessed than anybody else in my little town (population ~450, LDS membership 2). I think the same can be said for members of any religion vs people who don’t go to church here. As Amy pointed out, what makes you think it wasn’t just luck? Is your atheist neighbor who fell on some good fortune lucky or blessed?
nibbler wrote:
Would you see a distinction between a shirt that says, “Blessed” vs. a shirt that says, “Not Lucky, but Blessed”?For instance, one shirt just makes a statement, the other is like it’s correcting people before making the statement.
Yes, I think that the correction is what bothers me more than the statement.
Perhaps the idea of blessings can be a tool that can be used for both good and bad. It can be used as a divine endorsement of the current social order (as in God wanted me to live in privilidge while others go without) or it could be used as a mandate to help others (“with great power comes great responsibility” or “because I have been given much, I too must give).
It is probably hasty to judge someone just based on the shirt message alone before getting to know them and trying to understand their mindset.
I am unable to warm to anyone who either states or implies that they have been blessed. To me, their message is as meaningful as stating, “I am humble.” As a Church member, I have been indoctrinated with the idea that everything good comes from God as a reward for obedience. D&C 130:21 states, “And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” So, if something good happens, it’s because I earned it from God. If something bad occurs, it’s simply a negative outcome from unfortunate circumstances.
We teach that God is no respecter of persons, and indeed we are all blessed to inhabit this beautiful Earth. Beyond that, I’m unconvinced that God offers a merit-based blessing system. I suspect the “revelation” may have been overcooked. For me, it’s the same with prayer. I can’t bear to hear that Sister ABC prayed to find her lost car keys and went straight to them, whereas entire congregations prayed and fasted for young Brother XYZ — only for him to lose his fight with cancer, irreparably tearing apart his family. I pray only to offer thanks unless I’m in Sunday-robot mode, in which case I pray that all the people who stayed home to watch TV will be blessed. Um, OK.
Carburettor wrote:
We teach that God is no respecter of persons, and indeed we are all blessed to inhabit this beautiful Earth. Beyond that, I’m unconvinced that God offers a merit-based blessing system.
My daughter wrote an essay in which she compared all of humanity to a fetus living in darkness inside its mother’s womb. We live our lives seemingly without direct contact with God – unaware that the very earth itself is the fertile womb of God that is literally providing for all of our needs. Accordingly, we are all blessed beyond measure as we breath the air and eat the food. No additional miracles are necessary.
Roy wrote:
My daughter wrote an essay in which she compared all of humanity to a fetus living in darkness inside its mother’s womb. We live our lives seemingly without direct contact with God – unaware that the very earth itself is the fertile womb of God that is literally providing for all of our needs. Accordingly, we are all blessed beyond measure as we breath the air and eat the food. No additional miracles are necessary.
That is charming indeed.I find myself quietly frustrated by people who are convinced that God is involved in the minutiae of their lives; what they should eat, wear, choose to watch on TV, etc. I am satisfied with the idea of a loving heavenly parent sung about by Bette Midler in the movie Beaches. “God is watching us — from a distance.”
I saw a shirt at Walmart that said something like, “humble, faithful, blessed” and it really didn’t bother me at all. Thinking more on this subject and the discussion on another thread about people’s belief in blessings, I think I came to a realization.
nibbler wrote:
Would you see a distinction between a shirt that says, “Blessed” vs. a shirt that says, “Not Lucky, but Blessed”?For instance, one shirt just makes a statement, the other is like it’s correcting people before making the statement.
Yes, I have some very personal experiences that cause me to doubt the faithfulness=blessings formula. I therefore feel personally confronted and corrected by the “not lucky, but blessed” slogan. It feels like it is directed to me. It is probably best to try to not take it personally since it really is just a shirt and likely no offence was intended.
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