Daddy, Give Me My Blessing!

“Do you have only one blessing? my father Bless me, even me also, O my father.” Genesis 27:31-34

Can you hear the cry? “Bless me – me also, O my father!”

After reading this passage in the Bible the other morning I went and found my copy of The Gift of The Blessing, by Gary Smalley and John Trent. It is a book that I recommend every parent read.

Many go through life in search of their blessing, driven to please an inner voice of an absent father, but like Esau, many never really receive it.

Esau is now a grown man; this is a man’s man, yet this hairy hunter lifted up his voice and wept. Why? No, the weeping was not for the inheritance. Esau had already lost his inheritance by foolishly trading it to his brother for a bowl of soup. He was crying out for the stamp of approval and the blessing of his father.

Dad, are you living with and actively involved with your children? Have they heard the words, “I love you son, daughter”? Do they know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you unconditionally love them? Do they know that you are proud of them?

More times “blessings” become self-fulfilling prophecies. Father, what they hear you say, they begin to believe. What they believe, they attempt to fulfill. Family words of blessing are family words of acceptance.

Not only are words of “positive affirmation” important for our children’s physical well being, but they have great impact in their spiritual relationship with God. Many in the church today have difficulty accepting a loving relationship with their “Heavenly Father” because they have never experienced the love and acceptance of an earthly father. How can they possibly call God “Abba Father?”

If you never seem to be able to live up to the expectations of an earthly father, what does this do to trying to please almighty God? The father of the prodigal accepted him as he was without a detailed account as to how he spent the inheritance. The father never demanded the son justify his friends. The absence of a father’s blessing may lead to a never-ending treadmill of salvation by works.

Children missing their father’s blessing have great difficulty building personal relationships. The second commandment asks us to “love your neighbor as yourself”. If we cannot love and accept who we are, how can we love those around us?

Children who do not feel accepted at home have trouble leaving home. Leaving home, mentally, must happen before one can truly “cleave” to one’s life companion.

Cults and gangs are successful by offering our children what we parents are withholding: personal attention, affection, affirmations, and unconditional love. We give them “things” and call it “acceptance.”

Father, bless your children – Abraham did it, Isaac did it, Jacob did it. More importantly, Jesus did it. He took up the little children in His arms and He blessed them. The first thing God did after creating Adam and Eve was that He blessed them, knowing they would disappoint him.

Father, place your hands on their heads, lift your face to heaven and ask God’s face to shine down upon them, to meet there every need.

Ask God to put His loving mighty arms about them and to keep them safe.

Do it often.