The Blessing

When I was growing up, my Dad would say "The Blessing" (as it's known around the Curran house) to each kid each night before bed. It was from Numbers 6:24 and Dad said it like this:

"May the Lord bless you and keep you,

may his face shine down upon you.

May he be compassionate and gracious to you,

and give you peace."

It was Dad's way to pray over us aloud and let us know he was praying for us. We knew the Blessing was just one of the many prayers he and Mom said for us every day.

Literally every night for as long as I can remember, I heard this from my Dad. He said it to each kid individually every night. When he was away, he would call us and give our Blessing to us over the phone. When we spent the night at a friend's house or went away to church camp, we couldn't sleep without calling home for our Blessing. I remember even my first night at college Dad calling me to give me my Blessing. And although I didn't call home every night to speak to him, if I had an especially rough day, I would end it by calling Dad and asking for the Blessing. I cherish that tradition in our family.

It's a tradition, one of many, that I want to pass down to Grace. However, I haven't done the best at keeping it up. When she was teeny tiny and would fall asleep in my arms, I would say it to her as I laid her down in the crib. Now that we have an established bedtime routine, I try to remember to give Grace her Blessing before leaving her for the night...but I haven't remembered it much. It's probably been a week since I remembered to say it to her, pray it over her.

Tonight, we started the bedtime routine with Goodnight Moon and ended by each saying a prayer. Immediately after prayers, Grace looked up and said, "Mamma, bessing." I had no idea what she was talking about. She repeated, "Bessing, mama, bessing." I understood now. "Do you want your blessing?" "Yes, bessing, mama!"

Oh, it just melted my heart. I was really surprised that she remembered. I gave her a big hug and then said the Blessing for her. I think I'll be a lot more intentional about it now. Thanks, Dad, for giving our family such a rich and meaningful tradition!