Scripture

Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”

Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud. Genesis 27:36-38

Observation
Yesterday I saw a mom who should have her mother card revoked. We were in the TSA security line at the airport. She was a young mom with two tender children. They were excited about flying on a plane. They had questions. They skipped with anticipation. But their eyes were dark and heavy. They were used to what spewed from her mouth. From the mother flowed a torrent of hurtful words designed to crumple the spirit of a child. She hurled words like,

Shut up!
What would you know!
Stupid.

The clincher was when she ran over the daughter’s shoe with the luggage cart. When he daughter complained she shrieked, “Well then get out of the way!”

I turned and prayed for the children and for her. I could only see pain ahead. I asked Jesus to intervene.

Words have power. If it is possible to hurt so deeply then the inverse must be true that the right words to a child can create wonderful things. As parents, we have the power to bless. The hearts of our children long for blessing. Like Esau, they silently ask, “Bless me too!”

Children never outgrow their need of our words of blessing. My mom didn’t finish high school until she was well into her 40s. I still remember her dialing the black rotary dial wall phone to tell her mother the news. She wanted blessing.

Application
My kids want my blessing too. My youngest is 19. Just before he left home in October, I took him out for a special meal at the Texas Roadhouse. Over slabs of bovine, I presented him with the Bible that he had picked out and spoke words of favor over his future. Even with what I did, there is a part of me that would like to do yet even more for him. At my daughter’s wedding I crafted a special speech to bestow honor on she and her husband. For my foster sons, the night before their wedding, I took each to a beach house, cooked a big breakfast and prayed a deep prayer over them. And yet there is more.

Prayer
Father, I want to be a man who blesses well. Help me to identify times when I need to call my children to myself and to speak words of favor over their lives. And may the merits of Christ magnify my words for eternal impact in them. Amen.