the power!

For the past 3 years I've been teaching the parents of our 2-year olds about the power of praying Biblical blessings over their kids. Since I've been teaching it, I figured I better put it into practice when I had a kid, so I've been praying the "may the Lord bless you" blessing over Ethan almost every night since he was born. Sometimes I vary it up with one I really like from Ephesians, but this one is the normal one.

Well, last night Ethan woke up very upset. I don't know if he'd had a bad dream or something, but I couldn't get him to lay down quietly and go back to sleep. So he was standing up in the crib and I was hugging him across the bars, and suddenly I decided to pray and then bless him. I prayed a short prayer, then recited the blessing. Immediately he calmed down, laid himself down, and went back to sleep. I was totally blown away!

I spent the next half hour mulling in bed. I knew from my lessons and other peoples' stories that Biblical blessings are powerful - I'd heard of kids who stopped fussing at bedtime, stopped having nightmares, and begged for their blessings even as young adults. Clearly Jacob was willing to totally screw his brother Esau just to get his father's blessing, and even Jesus is seen to be blessing the children in the New Testament. But I was still awed. I guess I always am when God shows up. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I am!

Well, I guess I have a story of my own to share now when I teach the class again in June!