Those who have not been able to have children sometimes find it hard when they hear others say that they have been ‘blessed’ with a baby.
Annie and Jack — blessed?
‘Many people talk about children as a gift from God, and how much they are blessed by having them. Sometimes, a feeling can come about that, maybe, I wasn’t blessed as much.’
It is so easy to convey the wrong understanding of ‘blessing’ to those listening who haven’t had the children that they long for. Annie and Jack’s conclusion that they ‘weren’t blessed as much’ shows us that. Our choice of the word ‘blessing’ can communicate a variety of messages and as a result, the idea of ‘blessing’ is frequently misused in the counselling of infertile couples. It might be the message that we are being rewarded for obedience or, conversely, that we are being punished for disobedience.
