My good friend Marcus Price and I meet up occasionally and have interesting conversations about family, dating, business, and space alien theories.

I wrote about Marcus in my 2nd book, Fishing on Wednesday. He’s the founder of a chain of post office stores called Goin’ Postal…. and a bit of a character in his own right.

Marcus and I have known each other for many years, it just so happens he was married in 1997 and divorced in 2017, almost at exactly the same time as me. This past year we’ve become good friends, and he’s a great guy to keep me in check when I have crazy ideas.

Marcus was telling me how I could be a blessing in the life of certain women that I’ve dated, or not.

Marcus’s comment got me thinking, about how we can be a blessing to so many folks around us, especially if we are INTENTIONAL about it.

But what if that is not the case?

Maybe your presence in someone’s life is NOT a blessing! In that scenario you probably won’t be in their life that long, unless they’re family, which is another can of worms entirely.

Sometimes I’ve FAILED at being a blessing to others, to my eternal regret.

Sometimes I was so wrapped up in my own head that I failed to look outward and recognize that I was more of a curse than a blessing!

I don’t know what my daughters would say, but I’d like to think I’m a blessing in both their lives, just as Claire and Grace are a massive blessing in MY life. Same goes for my parents, my siblings, and the rest of my extended family.

Having Mom and Dad down here in Florida is really wonderful. I see them once (or twice) a week, and I treasure that time we share together.

Mom and Dad are a huge blessing in my life.

To a lesser extent I hope I’m a blessing to all the clients who’ve bought solar from me the last 5 years or so… and by extension I hope I’m a positive blessing for our installers, admin staff and sales team.

I hope I’m a blessing to the folks at church who see me on Sunday mornings. They are a blessing to me, just by being a part of my Faith community. The mostly retired folks who go to Harvester Methodist love me exactly where I’m at, and I’m grateful for that.

Even my Fervently Atheist friend Marcus is a blessing to me, but I’d never TELL him that.

I’d like to move through the rest of my life being a true BLESSING to everyone I meet, even if just for a brief moment.

If we were all intentional about BEING A BLESSING to everyone we meet imagine the love that we can cultivate everywhere we go?

Imagine if all husbands were a huge blessing to their wives?

I’ll bet the divorce rate would plummet.

My biological odometer clicks over to 48 years old in March… and with the finite years (weeks?) I have left on this spinning blue marble I’d like to be a blessing to everyone, as much as humanly possible.

That’s a good way to live one’s life.

Ben Alexander

October 7th, 2021