Comments on: My non-descript and utterly predictable patriarchal blessing

By: anonymous for this one

anonymous for this one — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:52:43 +0000

OK Steve P hit this right on the nose for me. I love Oh Brother Where Art Thou. Also, my sister and I got our blessings from a Patriarch we had never before seen. They have the same number of paragraphs, covering the same topics, in the same order. We only lived in that Stake a few months, but in college DS got a roommate from the same Stake and roommate’s blessing had the same number of paragraphs, covering the same topics, in the same order. Funny thing though, as the 40+years have gone by since college, the not so subtle differences between the blessings have been perfectly reflected in our lives. The Lord knew, and the Patriarch was inspired to say things with many layers of meaning that fit each of us and would continue to increase in applicability as years passed. During my actual blessing I had one particularly clear understanding of one particular part. This kept me from making an inappropriate early marriage.

Twice, when new in a ward, I have been set apart for a calling and the Bishop has quoted a line from my blessing verbatim. Again, it makes me feel like the Lord wants me to know for sure (again) that He knows me. And hawkgrrrl, mine says my children would bring me eternal happiness, but that didn’t stop a couple of them from detouring through delinquency on the way.

Our first 3 children, and number 5, got their blessings from a beloved Patriarch we had known for their whole lives. The blessings were personal and beautiful. I was needlessly apprehensive when child #4 went to a new Patriarch in a new Stake. His blessing was so right on it took my breath away.

Child #7 was spooked by PBs in general. She hates the story of the guy who was told he would get to work on a Temple, but never does. His work is in one of the Utah Tabernacles that recently became a Temple. She finally got her recommend and made her appointment. One day prior, the Patriarch died. It took her about a year to make another appointment, and another Patriarch died a week before the appointment. She said that she would never get a blessing because she didn’t want the responsibility of killing another nice old man. Just before her mission she finally did get her blessing, and she was just overjoyed that the Patriarch did not die.

My Dad is 81 and his blessing says he’ll see the 2nd coming. His Mom’s blessing said that too and she died decades ago. I had a high school friend who died before many of the wonderful promises of his blessing could be fulfilled. We don’t see the end from the beginning and time is nothing to the Lord. My personal evidence is strong that the veil is very thin during Patriarchal Blessings.

By: Terrakota

Terrakota — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:30:04 +0000

I live in Russia, and until recently we didn’t have patriarchs. Once they were assigned, the Area President gave a talk on the PB during a conference. He said that the singe most important thing that a PB contains is our lineage – that we belong to one of the tribes. Once he anounces that we are from the tribe of ______, he could’ve stopped right there. Nothing in the blessing is more important than to know that we belong to the House of Israel, because then we are heirs to all the blessings.

I serve as a patriarch’s assistant, that is I type the blessings, and I have no doubts in patriarchs’ divine calling. But all patriarchs have difference language skills, different favorite words, different personalities, different ways in which they approach their task, and that will undoubtedly reflect in the blessings. And, also, how can a human give some 1000 absolutely unique blessings? Not going to happen.

I personally love my blessing. I prayed and waited for years that I could have it. And I travelled half the world to get it. The patriarch didn’t know anything about me, and yet the blessing is very personal, as if he had known me very well. I humbly wanted the blessing to be very long and detailed, and it was. As with all other blessings, sometimes we get what we ask for, and sometimes we don’t.

I also know a woman who received a very, very short blessing, which she humbly accepted, while she really wanted more. Well, her blessing got lost, and her second one was a very long one. I also know a girl, who has received a blessing three times, all got lost, and she will receive it for the 4th time now. God really has a way of working things out.

By: Elphaba

Elphaba — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:42:48 +0000

I’m 33. Never had mine. Maybe some day, maybe when I’m 41.

I with with my fiancee now husband and some of the things in his scared me. As he’s an officer in the Army about to be deployed, they really scare me.

It did help that his mentioned children “in this life” when we dealt with infertility. We have one daughter, and my pregnancy was awful. A blessing given to my by my husband during that pregnancy meant more to me than anything a stranger could have said.

By: Allen

Allen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:52:15 +0000

Sometimes, years or decades later, the bland statements in our PB will be read and very different meanings will come into our minds. Let us not be hasty in thinking we already have the one and only meaning to a bland statement.

By: jjackson

jjackson — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:38:06 +0000

Leeann, #74.

Just watch as others begin the mental gymnastics that it takes to justify the content of the blessing as being prophetic. Hopefully they aren’t callous enough to just pull out the old “well, it IS contingent upon faithfullness”

By: Perry Shumway

Perry Shumway — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:48:06 +0000

Interesting that we place so much stock in whether our PBs do or do not provide adequate road maps, in spite of the fact that each of us is entitled to personal revelation, irrespective of whether our PBs seem valid. Surely there is more than one way to get heavenly direction?

I’m reminded of the widespread misinterpretation of Section 58, based on which many conclude that God doesn’t want us to bother him with trifles. In fact, it’s just the opposite. The prophet was besieged with recent converts (EVERYONE was a recent convert at that time, right?) begging him for individualized revelations. Section 58 is God’s way of explaining that the saints were empowered to go to Him directly for such revelations, that they didn’t have to solely rely on Joseph, or anyone else, to know God’s will concerning their lives.

By: Leeann

Leeann — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:35:25 +0000

When I was 19 my mother died of cancer. Several months later I was going through some papers and found her PB. I was so excited and felt that I would find answers and insights. Imagine how shocked I was to read one of her promises was that her “senior years” would be her most rewarding in mortality and that she would enjoy being a grandmother. Funny, my mother often talked about how she looked forward to being a doting g-ma. My mother died at age 48 (hardly senior) and had no married children and no grandchildren. For years afterward I struggled with my faith and even now do not place much faith in PB’s.

By: CS Eric

CS Eric — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:19:38 +0000

I went to my blessing with specific questions that I wanted it to answer. It is not as clear in the written version as it was as it happened, but the patriarch tried to close the blessing before all the questions got answered. I could tell he was doing that, and asked in my mind (silent prayer?) “what about x?” He reopened the blessing and answered that question, then tried to close again without addressing something. The blessing finally closed in a sort of a rush, addressing my remaining question as almost an afterthought.

Two things stand out most to me: first, it tells me many times to “be of good cheer.” I am not normally a cheerful person, so I need that advice. The other is that it tells me the blessings are condition on the choices I make and the influences I go by. I think I need that advice even more.

By: Ardis Parshall

Ardis Parshall — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:07:29 +0000

Ronan is going to be so delighted, Kristine, that you think of him as the Holy Brit.

By: Kristine

Kristine — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:58:36 +0000

“For example, can BCC be considered holy writ?”

Um, no way. Something that _rhymes_ with writ, maybe…