The Blessing of the Lack Thereof

Yesterday, I blogged about blessings, and it occurred to me that even a lack of blessings can, itself, be a blessing, depending on one's perspective. Blessings are wonderful, but they don't tend to teach us a whole lot. Meanwhile, a lack of blessings can it teach us patience and other Christlike attributes, and it can encourage us to perform the necessary work of repentance. If we always got all the blessings we want, there wouldn't be much incentive to grow or change. Thus, God wisely withholds some blessings from us in order to give us something to strive for and a reason to strive for it. I've heard it said that God won't withhold any good thing from the faithful, but we're not always faithful, so God uses some blessings (and the lack thereof) to encourage us to be more faithful and more righteous. This encouragement can be important, even life-changing, so it makes a certain amount of sense to embrace it when it appears. Sure, it's more pleasant to receive blessings, but we're more likely to learn vital lessons when we don't.