The call came in just a few minutes ago. 7:48 AM, per usual. Normally, I catch the call, but the phone was hiding elsewhere. There was nothing new about his message. Just his voice reminding me that he had safely made it to his destination.
“Hey, momma. I’m here at school. Have a good day. Love you. Bye.”
His words interrupted my train of thought—a train hunkered down and in the middle of 2nd Timothy and the apostle Paul’s chains. I looked up for a moment and tearfully echoed my response back to my son with an outstretched hand extended in the direction of the answering machine.
“Love you too, baby. Go with God today. Be with God. Let him be your light.”
He couldn’t hear me. But God could, and between the two of us—me and God—a message of peaceful intention was instantly carried from this mother’s heart to the heart of her child, despite the ten mile chasm between us.
With those few words of exchange, albeit spoken into the air and without the benefit of a face to face communication, my thoughts have shifted from Paul’s chains toward the pondering of something else.
Paul’s benedictions.
From Romans to Hebrews, and every book in between, Paul concludes his teaching letters with a benediction—words of blessing and final encouragement. Words like…
“Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ,… to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.” (Romans 16:25-27).
“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen. (1 Corinthians 16:23-24).
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14).
Words like that. And even though the recipients of said words, both then and now, didn’t hear them as I imagine Paul voicing them while he wrote, God did. God does. And between the two of them—Paul and the Holy Spirit of God—a message of peaceful intention has been carried from one saint’s heart to another, despite the 2000 year chasm between us.
Paul understood the power of a blessed benediction. He punctuated his “hard” teachings with words like grace and peace and love. And while we may not fully understand the depth of all that Paul was trying to say within his letters, it is easy for us to receive and to get our hearts around his endings.
As it was with Paul’s “sincerely’s” and “postscripts,” so it is with ours. Thus, a question or two.
How do we punctuate our exchanges with humanity? When others walk away from our wordy embraces, do they walk away with grace and peace and love? Or do they walk away with something to the contrary? With … confusion … sorrow … bitterness … nothingness?
When we close our letters, when we finish our phone calls, after we spell check our emails and polish our correspondence into ship-shape, when we conclude our meetings (whether in the boardroom or around the kitchen table), when we finally reach the end of all that we’re trying to say…
how will we say it? Furthermore, will we say it, or will we leave our words dangling in mid-air, hoping for their soft landing and subsequent understanding but not giving much thought to their conclusion?
Benedictions. They are ours to give, ours to write and ours to speak. When we refuse them their voice, we’ve spoken less even though God intends for us to speak more. His more—his words when we’ve finally come to the end of ours.
It’s not all about the preacher’s moment. We think it is. After all, benediction is a bulletin word—a “holy” kind of word that follows the sermon. But you and I, we are a holy kind of people bringing God’s truth to this world. Our lives are intended to read as a sermon. And when we get to the end of it, a little grace and peace and love is the perfect punctuation to a well-spoken … a well-lived … life.
I don’t want my words or my life to conclude with confusion and nothingness. I want my benedictions to read everlasting and on purpose so that years from now, they will serve as a lasting memorial from my heart to the generation of hearts who are coming up behind me. They may not hear my words now, even as I voice them while I type, but between the two of us—me and my extraordinary God—I believe in their preservation.
May they always be found worthy of such sacred perpetuation. Thus, I pray…
Benedict my life with your sacred punctuation, Father. With your words of grace and peace and love. May the utterings of this mouth and the overflow of this heart be used to point others to the cross. Never let my busy forsake the blessing of others. Instead, remind me to finish well—my conversations and my life. Let the conclusion of my words be filled with the conclusion of your truth, and let your truth be the grand conclusion of the conversation that I now carry in my heart. Amen and amen.
PS: My benediction to you this day via the words of the Apostle Paul as found in Hebrews 13:20-21.
I love to read Paul’s benedictions. When I taught in the children’s program of Bible Study Fellowship, one of the moms gave me a gift. It was a framed prayer with my name on it and it was Ephesians 1:15-21 and 3:16-21. It was so special as she personalized it for me. It still holds a special place in my office.
AMAZING thoughts, my dear. I so hope, and will pray and seek, to leave that grace and hope and peace with those I share with each day. Excellent reminder, dear Elaine.
This just might entail a long pondering. It sort of marries itself to yet another question I ask of myself from time-to-time: Have you left this _____ (person, situation, decision, conversation, etc.) better than you found it?
I have never connected such thoughts to benediction.
Now for that longer pondering …
“May He work in us what is pleasing to Him…” Oh, inDEED!
Do you just love that journal? You know I love mine. :o)
Hugs,
Melinda
Thank you, Elaine, for that wonderful benediction! And, now, I pray the Aaronic benediction over you:
” ‘The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make His face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn His face toward you
and give you peace’ “
(for the journey! 🙂
(Numbers 6:24-26)
(My parenthetical addition …)
You know, I’m sitting here thinking we would do well to all memorize one of Paul’s “concluding benedictions.” Why not peruse them all, pick one and put it to memory. That way, you’ve always got one in the pocket should you not be able to come up with one of your own!
I think I may do a follow up along those lines this weekend.
peace~elaine
This is lovely, Elaine. I’m reminded of Latin roots of the word, “benediction” – literally, to speak good things to. One of my favorites is the blessing God gave Moses for the people of Israel: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift His countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26, NKJV). Amen!
Elaine,
This resonates with MUCH peace, peace for the journey that we are each a part of this side of heaven.
Lovingly,
Yolanda
“Our lives are intended to read as a sermon. And when we get to the end of it, a little grace and peace and love is the perfect punctuation to a well-spoken … a well-lived … life.” Girl, this was powerful and so touched my heart. Do I live my life this way? Not all the time!! NOt much of the time! This is a great reminder and one to ponder! Thanks so much!
Love you!
Susan!
I love my journal too! Just re-ordered! I have a week left in last year’s!
I’ll get some pictures on my blog soon of what I’m talking about!! I’m still researching shipping and handling! There’s tons to think about!Thank goodness God is there with me!
I love the challenge to memorize one of Paul’s benedictions! I’m still memorizing my Jeremiah scripture!!!
I want to leave those with whom I come in contact desiring more of my presence and not less–more of my Jesus and not less. I am definitely a work in progress, but thanks be to God I am progressing.
Thanks for the beautiful post!
Leah
What a beautiful and thought provoking post! How I want those who leave my company to go away with words of blessing. I love the benediction you shared. Among my favorites…
1 Thessalonians 4:23, Romans 15:13 (the basis for my blog) and this one which for many years our Pastor would use as he closed our worship time…Jude 24-25
Now unto Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever…Amen.
Normally when I read his letters, I gloss over the intros and exits to get to the “good stuff”. However, recently, God has been asking me to stop and pause and really read and reflect on those words. And wouldn’t ya know it – they are the “good stuff!” Right now, I’m stuck on the opening in 2 Corinthians.
BTW – i LOVE that you wrote us a letter in your journal, took a pic and displayed it here! How clever, I might have to steal that! I also am impressed with your beautiful handwriting!
I echoe Kathryn…it made me think of our youth benediction from Numbers…an old benediction the priests spoke over Israel as they were leaving Egypt, heading out into the dessert, the dry place, the unknown…like us when we head out into the world of dry, spritless places…
blessings to you and yours!
This is beautiful, Elaine. My favorite benediction is the one from Numbers (that has already been quoted).
Your words ring true…thank you so much for challenging me with each and every post you write! :o)
Ahhh..yours words just draw me in and I love to chew on them. I was studying our lesson for Sunday school last night. We are starting a new session in a Bill Hybels series ‘New Community’. The next six weeks we will be studying in 1 Peter (how ironic that was my chosen scripture reading last week in my quiet times-a God thing). Anyway, I was so drawn into the words at the close of verse one “Grace and peace be yours in abundance”. We see these words used alot in the beginning and ending of New Testiment chapters-grace and peace, but knowing the history behind this writing and the persecution the people were induring as Peter wrote these letters…they held so much more meaning.
Then I think of the people in our class. Many are suffering…powerful word to speak to them in our lesson on Sunday.
These words are used in both the opening and the benediction, my prayer is that they may come to life for our class.
Wonderful thoughts!!
In His Graces~Pamela
By the way, I meant to tell you that we watched Nightjohn last weekend. It was wonderful, and I so appreciate that blessing! :>)
My–I will never say goodbye the same again. Truly. You make me think. Shouldn’t we leave each other with more than an absent minded “see ya later”?
A call to awareness, Elaine. My words can have power when they carry Him to others.
luv,
laura
I wrote a blessing for my son when he was 5 years old and I prayed it every night over him as he went to bed. It ended with the Numbers passage. I did this for so many years – and if I didn’t do it for some reason, he’d be calling me – “Mom, you haven’t prayed your blessing over me yet”. He couldn’t go to sleep without it. It was the benediction of his day.
Probably only in the last 3 years or so I stopped doing it…don’t know why…he was 14…things were changing…maybe I should re-write a more ‘adult’ one now.
I LOVED seeing your handwriting…it just made it so much more personal…actually made me quite emotional. Miss you.
Thanks Elaine. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
Love ya,
Joy
Wow, what a timely post! An answer to prayer actually. This could not have come at a better time for me. In our Tuesday Night Bible Study, Beth Moore was speaking on Luke 6 where it talks about loving your enemies.
Luke 6:32-36
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Beth challenged us to find 3 or 4 scripture blessings that we could pray over that person we have a difficult time loving. I left Bible study praying that God would give me those verses that He wanted me to use for the person in my life that I struggle the most with.
He has answered my prayer and I cannot wait to see how He will change that relationship.
Thank you all for sharing.
Elaine,
thank you for this post, and your benediction was just what I needed today.
I praise God for you, and how He uses your heart to communicate His heart to us.
Love you,
Heather
Notice that benedictions are not about what people do for God, but what God does for people. That’s consistent with the (protestant) gospel (good news) that God provides salvation through Jesus Christ not through what we do, but out of God’s kindness.
The Hebrew word for blessing, benediction — b’ra�khah, pl. B’rakhah�khot — comes from berekh (“knee”), thus making a connection between worship and kneeling. To “make a B’rakhah”is to say a blessing, to bless.
Love the post!
Oh, this is so convicting. I am so sharp-tongued and short-fused so much of the time! Lord, please make each of us a blessing to others!
Remember that old hymn?
“Out in the highways and byways of life
Many are weary and sad
Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife
Making the sorrowing glad.
(Chorus)
Make me a blessing
Make me a blessing
Out of my life may Jesus shine
Make me a blessing, oh Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing to someone today!”
That was one of my favorites as a child. I need to sing it more often as a crotchety middle-aged lady now, don’t I?
I really hadn’t ever thought about the privilege of my own benedictions. I do sort of subconsciously try to wrap up things like emails and phone conversations with a caring word, but I haven’t been intentional about extending a blessing to someone in the process. I’ll have to work on that! Thanks for the thought. Blessings to you, friend.
I think, through this post and your writing, the Holy Spirit just changed my life. I really mean that.
<3, Kristen
Very thought-provoking post – thank you…
You have done it again my friend! You have given me much to think about this morning. My prayer for this day will be for God to allow my words to be few, but allow them to be for the building up of his kingdom and the encouragement of others. May they be a reflection of who He is in my life.
I can be quick to brush people off as an annoyance at times. This post will hopefully change that!!
Thanks Elaine!
This was great, and my benediction to you today is,
“Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you Elaine. (2Thes. 3:16)
Blessings my sweet friend♥
Wonderful! I love the opening and how you led into your post. I love the thoughts and as always–your blog gives me peace for my journey.
Elaine, I always receive MORE peace for my journey when I visit with you.
I believe our steps are ordered in our LORD and so in saying that I know He led me to you this day.
I won’t go into the details but this message lifting my heart and confirmed I’m on track in a particular area.
As for your opening, it drew me into tears for having an adult daughter and two baby grand daughters that live in another state, there are times when I miss her call and she leaves me a “Ma it’s me…” message. I can not tell you how often I am praying for her as I am listening to the message. I extend my hand at times toward their photos on my frig and so on…
How wonderful the connection of CHRIST truly is.
I appreciate you and the beautiful prayer you prayed for us. I pray it all back to you and so much more.
May your day and remainder of the week be filled with the grace and joy of our Lord. Love you.
This is wonderful, Elaine!
You have just inspired me (that would be, the Holy Spirit has inspired me through you…) to change my words with my boys when I get them to school each morning.
Never mind, “Have a great day. I’ll see you this afternoon!” I’m going to share your thoughts with them tonight, and from now on I will be giving them a Pauline benediction.
Thanks!!!
Grace and peace to you, my sister, from our blessed Savior and King!
“a message of peaceful intention has been carried from one saint’s heart to another, despite the 2000 year chasm between us”.
I love that Paul prayed for me and he never even knew me. But God did and He knew what to put on Paul’s heart so that what was put out into the atmosphere would land exactly where God purposed it to.
One day I will thank Paul for being obedient to the Spirit.
And thank you for the thoughts on the benediction.It was good food for thought…and something that I need to keep in mind. Thanking God that He forgives and that He heals….and for the future that the Spirit will remind me to leave with a blessing.
I really enjoyed the last two posts…there was something particular in them. 😉
What an amazing view you have beautifully spoken. This is settling deep in my heart right now. Thank you for sharing. I’ll be check in for I hope you do a follow up post. To memorize on of
Paul’s benedictions is a great idea.
I have always said to my kids “peace be with you” and they say back “and also with you”. I loved hearing that when I was in a catholic church as a young girl and somehow made a mental note to continue that exchange if ever blessed with kids. I needed some solid Elaine wisdom today. Thanks for blessing me and oh Peace be with you. Elizabeth
What wonderful food for thought, Elaine. Thank you.
Yes, sweet Elaine. I want to be a walking, talking, singing, acting benediction. I want His benedictions to be sketched all over my attitude, overflowing from me.
Thank You, Lord, for the teaching ministry You have given Elaine. Thank You for using her in so many lives, deepening our faith walks, authentic along the way. Protect her physically, emotionally and spiritually, I pray. May You bless her and keep her, make Your face shine upon her. Continue to be gracious to her. Lord, lift up Your countenance upon her and give her peace. In Your name I pray, Amen.
Love you, Sister.
If we would leave everyone’s presencing with the breath of benediction how much better would this world be! I am going to take the call to memorize one of Paul’s benedictions. Thank you so much for penning the Spirit’s leading. I have been blessed.
Denise
For quite some time now, our pastor has been giving much thoght and prayer into the benedictions and God gives him an ‘impression’ to bless us with…blessings by those God has placed in authority over us are very important, aren’t they..
thank you for your blessing…and may I bless you with unexpected joy this week..
Love, Sita
So very true about how we can put a blessing upon our family with our words. Have a great day!
Christy
“Blogging With My Faith Friends”
http://www.overflowliving.com/Blog.html
If only more would think to encourage others… even with a simple benediction… thanks for the reminder!
I dropped by for a visit and noticed a comment posted that included Ira Wilson's gospel song, "Make Me a Blessing." (Today is the 129th anniversary of his birth. You can see his story today on my blog, Wordwise Hymns.)
Great song, great prayer! There is a pass-it-on quality to God's blessings. As the Lord told Abraham, "I will bless you…and you shall be a blessing" (Gen. 12:2). Thank the Lord for the opportunities we'll have to share His blessings today!