Monday, January 19, 2009

The Blessing—Don’t Leave Home Without It

©Millie McNabb

Before his death, Israel blessed each of his sons, as recorded in Genesis 49:28. “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him.”
It was a formal “passing of the torch” from one generation to the next.

Our children need some form of blessing as they leave home—something that assures them that they have completed their childhood training, and are ready to be in charge of their own lives. Graduation ceremonies can serve that purpose. Wedding ceremonies have a more formal recognition of becoming separate from the parents, and joined to the spouse.

There are two measures that I use to tell if a person has received the blessing:
1) Is the person a fully functioning adult?
2) Can the person interact with his parents adult to adult?

Did you receive any formal “blessing” when you left home?

God bless…

Millie McNabb, B.A., B.Mus.

Strategies and support for parents who are intentionally raising children to become Christian adults. www.ChristianValuesLegacy.com

2 comments:

Margaret said...

I know this comment is a couple of days behind but I've been seeing a bunch of different blessings throughout the week and thought I'd share.
1. I felt very blessed for my graduation since both you and dad spoke. I think parents often tell their children they are proud of them but it was really nice hearing all the things you and dad saw in me and to also share them with the crowd.
2. I felt ver blessed at my wedding but I won't go into that now.
3. Two times this past week we were getting together just for fun and you can dad picked up the bill, not because you thought we couldn't afford it, you just wanted to bless us. (Tasty pizza by the way!)
Those we just some of my thoughts.

Millie McNabb, BA, BMus said...

It is fun to have an adult relationship with my children. Thanks for being you.