Long, but very informative read on DaySpring's 'The Blessing Bracelet'

 

Source: https://www.hallmarkseasonsoflove.com/2023/04/hallmarks-blessing-bracelet-finally.html

Did you know that Hallmark Channel started out as a religious network?  

Its roots trace back to religious broadcasters in the American Christian Television System (ACTS) and Vision Interfaith Satellite Network (VISN).  Both shared a satellite signal, and by 1993, they rebranded as The Faith & Values Channel.

Three years later, when Liberty Media, Hallmark Entertainment, and The Jim Hensen Company acquired large stakes in the company, the channel became the Odyssey Network and slowly phased out religious programming and replaced it with a family entertainment format.  It wasn't until 2001 that Odyssey was again rebranded, this time as Hallmark Channel.

Despite the gradual departure from religious programming to focus on light, romantic "comfort food" movies, Hallmark Channel once produced movies with a profound emphasis on faith, family, and American values.

Image:  Hallmark Media

That is no longer the case, especially with left-wing activist, Woke Wonya Lucas, at the helm as CEO.

Today, viewers must filter what they watch on Hallmark Channel, since a growing percentage of movies and series include elements that are not family-friendly.  Many movies are marinated in radical, progressive ideology meant to indoctrinate viewers to create a seismic shift in cultural mores.

True to identity politics, Hallmark Channel is dogmatically insistent on ticking boxes with casting, which negatively impacts quality.  By trying to stuff each movie with every form of diversity, equity, and inclusion, the movies are becoming farcical--like an exaggerated caricature of a clown show.

Not all new Hallmark movies are bombs, however.  The best movies Hallmark makes today are the ones with strong stories and talented actors that aren't politically motivated.

The Blessing Bracelet is one of those movies, and it harkens back to the days when Hallmark prioritized faith-themed features.

What Is The Blessing Bracelet About?

Dawn Spencer is about to lose her home.  She's a divorced, single mom trying to dig herself out of the massive debt her husband saddled her with when his investments tanked.

Dawn's full-time job at a veterinary clinic isn't warding off the pending foreclosure, and she isn't having any luck securing a much-needed second job.

For her annual Valentine's night out with her best friends, she rediscovers a blessing bracelet she invented back in high school.  Each bead on the bracelet allows the wearer to count her blessings.  As Dawn tries to squelch her growing fears by expressing gratitude for the good things in her life, she miraculously finds a job as a waitress at the very restaurant where she and her friends are celebrating.

Flancy, the waitress who trains Dawn, gives her advice on how to score big tips--leave each table with a token that makes diners feel special.  In Flancy's case, she leaves them candy that she buys out-of-pocket.

Since Dawn has blessing bracelet materials stored away in her garage, she decides to make them for her customers, and her generosity circles back like a boomerang.  First, a prayer group orders 30 of her bracelets, and the orders escalate from there.  She receives a 500-piece order followed by a 1,000-piece order from a department store.  She can't possibly craft so many bracelets on her own, but her friends and church family pitch in to help.

Dawn's tireless hard work ultimately launches her own successful business, she avoids foreclosure, and she finds the financial independence that had eluded her.

Along the way, she just happens to fall in love.

The Blessing Bracelet stars Amanda Schull and Carlo Marks.  Image:  Hallmark Media

Christian Values Embedded in The Blessing Bracelet

A core thread in The Blessing Bracelet is forgiveness.  It's a word Dawn seems to hear frequently, and like most people, she struggles with it.  Dawn is in a bad position through no fault of her own.  Her ex-husband abandoned her when his bad investments left her with insurmountable debt, and she and her son haven't seen him in three years.  She doesn't allow it to make her bitter, and rehearsing her blessings on the bracelet helps her maintain an attitude of gratitude for the good things in her life.

Even when Dawn's ex, Alan, returns to make amends and offers her $10,000 he's gained in yet more "investments," she sees he hasn't changed, but she has.  Even though Alan doesn't seem to have learned from his mistakes, Dawn forgives him, and it's the key to her own freedom and peace.

The power of prayer is another vital element of the movie.  In her darkest and most helpless moments, Dawn turns to God in prayer.  From her perspective, her prayers don't seem to be answered right away, but viewers can see that things are shifting in her favor behind the scenes.  This is how God works!  Prayer moves mountains.

The importance of belonging to a church family is emphasized.  We aren't meant to do life alone.  God wants us in community and fellowship with other believers.

Image:  Hallmark Media

The concept of tithing is also included in the movie.  The Bible instructs believers to tithe 10% of their income back to God, but when Dawn's business starts booming, she ups the ante and donates 15% of her bracelet profits to the church.

When facing hard times, people often bemoan that God has turned His back on them.  It isn't true!  Dawn's journey explains it.  She admits that God never moved--she did--and when she makes her way back to Him, her life turns around for the better.

While Hallmark tries to use blanket faith to appeal to the masses and never mentions Jesus by name, the movie does focus on the Christian celebration of Easter and references the "Risen Savior."  Never mind that Easter Sunday at churches focuses on the resurrection and does not include Easter egg hunts for children (if those happen, it's on a separate day), so Hallmark couldn't resist adding secularism to the mix.  

Finally, when Justin, Dawn's son, finally gets the puppy he's wanted, he names her Hope.  Helping people find hope in Jesus is what the Christian faith is all about.

The Blessing Bracelet Was Inspired by Made as Intended Jewelry

Blessing bracelets are an actual product developed in 2012 by Dawn Sprong (notice the same first name as Hallmark's female character).

Similar to the movie, Sprong started off making the bracelets for a few friends and has now sold over a million of them worldwide.  When we count our blessings and are grateful for what we have, it changes our perspective, which then changes us, which leads to us impacting the world in a positive way.

Sprong shares, "My life changed dramatically when I discovered that, though I already received most of what I wanted in life, I never took time to appreciate it.  I was always focused, as many of us are, on the next thing, and then the next thing.  The more I brought gratitude practice into my daily life, the more I received to be grateful for."  

Image:  Hallmark Media

It's tempting to look at our circumstances and see what's missing, but life is better when we are grateful for all the ways God has already blessed us.  It's not about the power of positive thinking, but about developing a thankful heart towards God. 

-----------------------------------

My additional comments: Yes, this really did used to be a religious channel before it became RomCom Central (basically). I saw for 6 years what this network was like before it was infiltrated by the Left and their awful ways of life. I loved that network very much.

Which is why I'm never going to completely give up on it going back to those ways, no matter how many more trashy inappropriate movies or TV shows it puts out. Because wokeness always backfires in the end, one way or another.