I have been reading recently about what it means to bless others.
For the past three months, I have been thinking a great deal about wisdom, maturity, and what it means to live each day with greater love. Scripture tells us that loving God and loving others is at the heart of what we were made to do. Both are easy to affirm and much harder to practice daily.
As I have tried to understand more deeply what loving others actually consists of, I have kept coming back to the idea of blessing.
If you have been to one of our workshops, you may remember that our male and female leaders offer a blessing to participants. They speak to and over each person - words of life, worth, and value. It is a sacred moment because so many people have lived for years without hearing those words.
In his book Sacred Fire, Ronald Rolheiser describes blessing as the experience of being seen in such a way that another person, through words or in body language, says, "I am glad you are here. You bring something special into my life!”
I have never forgotten a moment in my late thirties when my father told me he was proud of the job I was doing as a parent. That moment is so deeply etched in my memory that I can still recall the details of where we were and how it felt to hear those words.
That is the power of blessing.
As we approach Father’s Day, I find myself hoping that I have blessed my own children consistently enough that they carry within them a deep assurance of their value. But I also know that for many, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can stir pain rather than comfort. Not everyone received words of blessing from their mother or father. Many carry the ache of what was never spoken, never seen, or never given.
If that is part of your story, I hope you know that the absence of blessing in the past does not have to have the final word. Even as adults, those wounds can be touched by the blessing of others. I see that happen at every workshop. I watch people begin to receive words they have long needed, and I am reminded that blessing still has the power to heal.
For me, I want to live a life marked by blessing others. It is not always easy. There are people all around us carrying wounds from the absence of blessing, and our words may matter more than we realize.
Our heavenly Father offers His rich blessing to us. And as we learn to trust it and receive it, we are invited to become people who give it away.
Mike Vaughn
Executive Director |
