It’s almost eight o’clock, and we’ve just finished reading a chapter of The Far Side of the Loch. I close the book. “Okay, time for God-blesses. Who’s first?”
“Me!” Jane says and immediately launches into her nightly litany: “God bless Mama. God bless Dadda. God bless Jack.” She goes on to bless the kitties, her baby brothers, her friend with leukemia, her godfather’s dad who has cancer, and our sponsored child in Guatemala (in that order). “Amen!” she says.
Then she curls up in Doug’s lap, and I say her blessing, from Jeremiah 17.
Blessed are those who hope in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted beside water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves shall stay green.
In the year of drought it is not anxious,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.
This is the verse we prayed for her at her baptism when she was just two months old.
When I’ve finished praying this verse, Doug says, “Jane Elizabeth, may you be like that tree, rooted and grounded in God’s love.” Then he marks her forehead with his finger in the shape of a cross. “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Then it’s Jack’s turn. He’s been saying God-blesses at bedtime since he could string three words together. “Glod bess Mama,” he used to say. “Glod bess Dadda.” I’m not sure when we started praying his baptismal verse over him. I don’t even remember who gave us the idea. But it’s one of my favorite daily rituals, this bedtime blessing of each of our children with the verses we prayed for them at their baptisms.
After Jack says his God-blesses, I pull him into my lap. He’s seven, but I still cuddle him, will continue to cuddle him as long as he’ll let me.
“Jack Ireton,” Doug says, and prays his blessing from Ephesians 3.
When Doug’s through, I mark Jack’s forehead with a cross. “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Then it’s hugs and kisses and bedtime.
These bedtime blessings are not the only prayers I pray for my children, but they’re the ones I pray most often. Night after night, I pray that Jack will know God’s love, that Jane will trust God’s love, that Luke will follow God all the days of his life, that Ben will hope always in the Lord.
Night after night, I send my children off to sleep with the words of Scripture spoken over them, prayed over them.
And night after night, I pray that God will honor our prayers, will answer them, will bring these four precious children to faith and hope and love.
This is just so beautiful it made me cry. Thank you.
I love the God-blesses idea. With our first baby, I have been thinking about how to facilitate prayer with her once she can communicate, and this is perfect. Is this your family tradition, or is this a faith tradition you have taken up?
Hi Thomas,
I didn’t say bedtime prayers in my home growing up. We prayed over meals and most nights my mom prayed for me when she tucked me in, but that was about it.
When I was in college, I read a lot of books by Madeleine L’Engle and loved her family’s tradition of saying God blesses before bed. (I think it was a tradition in her fictional Austin family, too.) So I picked that tradition up from her.
When Jack was a baby, I read a book by Gregory and Suzanne Wolfe. It was mostly a compilation of blessings for various occasions from various traditions, and it was from that book that I got the idea of praying a blessing over Jack after he said his God-blesses. Of course, he couldn’t even talk yet at that point, so I just started praying Ephesians 3 for him most nights. I used a few other blessings from the Wolfe book as well.
When Jane was born, I prayed Ephesians 3 and the other blessings over her, too. It wasn’t till a year (?) after her baptism that I got the idea of praying her baptismal verses over her. Once we started that, we loved it so much we never stopped.
I must confess, though, that after reading one of your blog posts, I bought a copy of Praying the Scriptures for Your Children, and some nights Jack and Jane ask for a blessing from that book instead of their baptismal verses. So it’s an evolved and evolving tradition.
Hope that helps!
Warmly,
Kimberlee