Speak Blessings
(By Angela Watson)
How comfortable are you speaking a blessing over someone in your life, whether it be someone who’s close to you or someone you’ve just met?
My daughter and I attended a retreat earlier this year based on the Focus on the Family: Launch into the Teen Years program, and the weekend's closing session was a Milestone Ceremony where each parent was to prepare a 1-2 minute blessing to be spoken to their child. Of all the activities planned that weekend — tree-top trekking, a weekend with mostly strangers, in-depth discussions about gender, puberty, and adolescence — it was this particular session that I was most apprehensive about. I’d never been part of a blessing ceremony and had just enough experience speaking to know that the allotted 1-2 minutes to speak my blessing over my daughter would feel like a really long time.
Those of you who know me well won’t be surprised that my strategy for this ceremony was to observe a few of the other parents’ blessings and then just speak from my heart. It was a beautiful ceremony with many tears shed as each parent took turns speaking to their child, affirming them as we’ve seen them grow and develop, describing how they have been a blessing to our family, and sharing our prayer for them as they continue to grow into the young woman or man that God has called them to be.
My mind was drawn to this memory as I read the book of Ruth. When Boaz fulfilled his role as the redeemer of Naomi’s land, family, and inheritance by taking Ruth as his wife, the people who were at the gate and the elders spoke this blessing over them,
“May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you because of this young woman” (Ruth 4:11-12 ESV).
Little did these witnesses know that from this line would not only come the house of Israel, but also one day the Messiah, the Saviour of the World himself.
As the neighborhood women of Bethlehem gathered after the birth of Boaz and Ruth’s son Obed, they spoke this blessing over Naomi;
“Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you the restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him” (Ruth 4:14-15).
This same God has not left us without a redeemer, but sent His Son to save us from our sins. He’s still the restorer of life and the nourisher of our old age. May we praise God for who He is and may we proclaim His blessings on others.
Is there someone in your life that would benefit from having a blessing spoken over them?
Perhaps you know someone who’s struggling to feel like they fit in or that they are special:
You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).
God has plans to prosper you and to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).
Or someone you know is struggling with feeling loved:
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16).
God has lavished his love on us and called us His children (1 John 3:1).
When someone is questioning their calling or feeling like they don’t have the skills for the job:
God chose you and appointed you to bear much fruit (John 15:16).
God has equipped us with everything good to do His will (Hebrews 13:20-21).
In any circumstance, to encourage another:
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
God has blessed us abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8).
I pray that we would be generous in proclaiming God’s blessings to others. And in closing, I pray this blessing over you.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).
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