God Bless You!

I remember the time when I was at church and that “gotta’ sneeze” hit. I tried to hold it back, but couldn’t — “ah-choo!” The man behind me whispered “Bless you!” Ten seconds later, “ah-choo” came again. This time it was the woman beside me who said, “God bless you”! As embarrassing as it was, it didn’t matter. I was being given blessings from God Almighty’s children!

Let’s think about the blessings of God that began from the beginning of time – even before there was such a thing as time. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In the beginning? Our wildest imaginations simply don’t engage there — nothingness became something?

And right then and there we were introduced to God. Nothingness from a Someone Who was there all along became something. And God began to speak. He says, “Let there be.” He creates. He makes things using only His voice. He creates everything with His voice.

Then on His fifth day of creation, He spoke and created fish and birds, and blessed them. That was the first time we see “bless” in the Bible. He said to the birds and the fish, “Bless you. Have at it, kids. Enjoy.”

My family loves fishing – any lake, river, or ocean. My family also loves bird-watching. My East Texas kiddos have a huge telescope at their large window that views their lake. They’ll call out “It’s a bald eagle! It’s a crane! It’s a vulture!”

Fish and birds are blessed by God. How awesome is that? And remember that the creation of these things happened with just the sound of God’s voice.

Then His grandest creation of all! “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky……” “So God created mankind in his own image….”

Finally, in all His glory, God created man and woman. And He blessed them too. And on the heels of that blessing, He told them to have babies. “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it!” (Genesis 1:27–28). HELLO multiplication! It’s like our Heavenly Father knew that His blessing needed to move from Him to us and from us to our children and grandchildren.

Just like that we are CREATORS – blessed by God! Here, for the first time in recorded history, we’re introduced to the idea of blessing. The blessing. God’s blessing over people — you and me.

There is something about “blessing”! I’ve resolved to bless my family with words and touches. In fact, every single day I do just that in my morning text messages to my four children (spouses included) and my six grandchildren.

We take after our Dad, Father God, when we bless others. When we say “God bless you” – we are following in His footsteps and in His voice. We bless others when we HALT because we see someone hurting by the weariness in their face. We offer a prayer of blessing over them.

And, today, I bless you and your loved ones! I am a “chip off the old block” and so are you! May we become bestowers of God’s blessings. Maybe that’s a calling He gave us right from the beginning…..when He had all of us in mind!