IN EVERYTHING

“Avraham was old, ahead in days, and YHWH had blessed him in everything.” [Gen. 24:1]

Avraham had a miserable life, had to leave his native homeland and his affections, and had irretrievably estranged both of his sons. What could “YHWH had blessed him in everything” possibly mean?

Perhaps the blessing consists of a life contemplated as a whole, with all its lights and shadows, “in everything,” indeed. For there is nothing that does not also contain an aspect, sometimes veiled, of blessing.

Knowing how to perceive it is in itself a blessing.