I've read the Beatitudes before.
Most of us have.
They're familiar.
Comforting, even.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit…"
"Blessed are the meek…"
"Blessed are the peacemakers…"
But the other day, something shifted in me. Not in what I read… but in what I heard.
It wasn't a list.
It wasn't instruction.
It was an invitation.
Because right there, at the beginning of each line, is a word we often move past too quickly:
"Be."
Not just something to understand. Not just something to agree with. But something to become.
And I started to realize — we spend so much time trying to do faith correctly. Do the right things. Say the right words. Respond the right way.
But what if Jesus wasn't asking us to perform anything?
What if He was simply saying:— Lisa
"Be this."
Be poor in spirit.
Be gentle.
Be merciful.
Be a peacemaker.
Not as a checklist…
but as a way of living.
And here's where it gets uncomfortable… but also freeing. Because none of those things are flashy. They don't win arguments. They don't prove strength the way the world defines it.
They often look like:
Being quiet when you want to defend yourself.
Choosing peace when you're justified in anger.
Offering mercy when it hasn't been earned.
And maybe hardest of all…
Feeling broken… and not running from it.
Because this is what I'm starting to understand: "Blessed" doesn't always feel like blessing.
Sometimes it feels like loss. Humility. Surrender. Waiting.
But maybe that's because we've confused blessing with comfort.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
In a song I wrote, there's a line: "Blessed when I'm losing what I thought was all." And that line didn't come from a place of having it all together. It came from realizing that sometimes what we lose… is what was keeping us from becoming.
You can't be poor in spirit if you're clinging to self-sufficiency.
You can't be meek if you're always proving your strength.
You can't be a peacemaker if you're feeding the fire.
So maybe this was never about striving harder. Maybe it's about surrendering deeper. Maybe "Be-attitudes" really means this — not just attitudes to learn… but a way of being to live into.
So today, I'm not asking myself: "Am I doing this right?" I'm asking: "Who am I becoming?" And slowly… gently… I'm learning to let that answer unfold.
Where in your life are you trying to do everything right — and what might shift if you focused instead on who you are becoming? I'd love to hear where you are in that. Leave a note, a prayer, a praise. You are not alone in the becoming.
With love and open hands,
Lisa
