FREE PERSONAL COPY
GOD BE WITH YOU….
Recently Nancy Gerdes’ niece was in a serious car accident. As we prayed for her recovery, the comment was made “We should tell one another we love them every time one leaves the house.” I got to thinking about that. This resulting article is to suggest that we tell one another we love them and bless them every time they leave home to go out into the world, whether they are leaving us to run a brief errand or to go to school or to go to Jamaica.
When one of us is leaving to go out into the world, we are crossing a very real boundary between interior and exterior, known and unknown, and potentially, life and injury, illness or death. We aren’t to get all upset and stressed about these possibilities, but to think of them as opportunities to remind one another of how important they are to us and to God. Seize this God-given opportunity to bless them, to pray for their well-being and to send them on their way secure in our love and faith. Asking Jesus to go with them and keep them safe is a very real safety net for them and should be reassuring to them.
Sometimes it’s appropriate to give a hug and a kiss; sometimes a quick “love you;” sometimes we might say something like “God be with you” or put your hand on them and say “Jesus, thank you for (name); bring (him/her) back safely.”
I had a friend who always told her son when he was going out into the world “Remember whose you are.” What a blessing that is - a reminder they are loved, of our expectations of them, that we are there for them.
As a young child, I had another friend whose mother always said “May the Lord bless you and keep you” when she was leaving the house for any reason, and for any length of time. It was years before I realized this is from Numbers 6:24-26:
“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.”
Vaya con Dios.