Blessing One Another

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Last week in My Christmas Wish List, I offered this suggestion:

Say thank you or something nice to more people this year. In fact, studies show that when we express gratitude or reach out to encourage someone else, our own sense of well-being increases!

My friend Reverend Dr. Alan Williams shared with me a specific application of that idea that I had not considered. This week I intend to try it out!

I have included his article entitled Blessing One Another below in case you want to try it, too!

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I watched a video about the importance of spouses blessing each other every day. It also spoke of parents blessing their children plus the children blessing their parents each day. My wife and I have been practicing that principle for several weeks and it has pulled the Lord more into our relationship than He already was.

You might try it! Here is the blessing we use broken down into three parts.

-May the favor of the Lord rest on you and may the Lord release His blessing in your life. May the Name of the Lord be put upon you and may you succeed in all you do. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

-May the Lord bless the labors of your hands and bless your relationships with your household. May the Lord enliven your heart to remember that life and death are in the power of your tongue. May the peace of God dwell in your life in Jesus Name. Amen.

-May you be blessed in your spirit and your soul and in every fiber of your being. May you experience friendship with the living God. May you experience the peace that passes anything you’ve comprehended and may you encounter the love of God. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

However, you may prefer traditional blessings such as:

-May the Lord go before you to show you the way, behind you to encourage you, beside you to befriend you, above you to watch over you, and within you to give you peace. Amen.

-May God Who goes before you through desert places by night and day be your companion and guide. May your journey be with the saints. May the Holy Spirit be your strength and Christ your clothing of light, both now and forever. Amen.

Here’s a Celtic blessing.

-Deep peace of the running wave to you, deep peace of the flowing air to you, deep peace of the quiet earth to you, deep peace of the shining stars to you, deep peace of the Son of peace to you. And may the blessing of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with you always. Amen.

Finally, the Aaronic blessing that God told Aaron to bless Israel can be found in Numbers 6:24-26:

-The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance to you and give you peace. Amen.

The important thing is that you take a minute or two to bless each other. Begin the blessing with the person’s name and with your hand on their shoulder. I challenge you to give it a try.

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Rev. Dr. Alan Williams and Linda have been married for fifty-three years. He says, “We use the blessing each morning.”

He is a pastor both of the NALC and LCMC, having served fifty years, half of which has been in health care as an interfaith chaplain and half in serving congregations both in Canada and in Texas. He is currently semi-retired, working part-time for Holy Ghost Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg, Texas as a visitation pastor. He has been a ham radio operator and played guitar for the last 56 years. Two years ago, he retired from forty-four years of hobby beekeeping. His latest project is writing a Christian science fiction series set in outer space.

Dr. JeannieDecember 11, 20221 Comment