The Power of a Blessing

Saying Good Words and How this Brings Transformation in the Soul

Photo by Nick Moore on Unsplash

This is a day when we need to hear blessings. There are so, so many words of destruction, damage and devastation.  We hear so much swearing and cursing; so much talk of negativity and destruction. There is another way we can speak. There is another way to share good words. A blessing, when most simply understood is, saying good words. When one gives a blessing to another, good words are spoken over, spoken into and spoken as a foundation  upon which we can stand. 

Everyone needs a blessing. In our stories, many of know too well, the crushing expectations we feel on our shoulders to make something of ourselves; the vacuum many sense inside that echoes the lies of not being enough or not having what it takes to make “it” crush the spirit and soul of a human being. We know what it is like to NOT receive a blessing. So, why then, would we ever want to withhold from someone or even ourselves, the power of a a blessing?

Good words are needed to fill in the many gaps of our lives where we feel inefficient; incomplete and lacking. We all know the powerful force of erosion in life when the foundation of our lives feels unsteady to stand upon. A blessing helps.

A blessing is speaking good words into the heart of someone who you simply want to and choose to tell something very important and very essential.

A Blessing Can Change Everything and Everyone

Years ago, I traveled to the monastery where the author, teacher and monk, Thomas Keating lived out the final days of his life in Colorado. Gwen and I studied with Keating and learned much about contemplative prayer and centering our souls.

We are better people today because of all he offered us. As I walked around the monastery, I saw the prolific author, teacher and monk, Thomas Keating walking ever so slowly, through the cloistered halls. I asked him in a whisper if I could speak with him and he motioned in silence for us to walk together to a library where we stood together. We talked for 15 minutes and at the end of our conversation, I said, “Father Keating, would you give me a blessing?”  After all, I knew that one of the roles of priests and pastors was to bless those who asked for a blessing.   He paused and said, “Steve, don’t you know that the blessing is within?”  With that one statement he both blessed me and taught be a very valuable lesson.  I must find the great blessing that is already in me.  When Keating said that to me, it was if he handed me a map that validated the inner journey—that place within where we can hear the Sacred Voice speaking to us.  Then he said these words, “Steve, because you asked me, I am happy to give you a blessing.”  And, he did. He blessed me. He blessed my marriage with Gwen. He blessed my work with Potter’s Inn. He blessed my writing and then he took his hand off me and walked away into the silent halls. Somehow—and perhaps it is a mystery—but good words falling into a good heart has the power to transform a person. I am a witness to this experience. I am a witness to this fact.

In 1996, I spent a month with Dallas Willard in a monastery in California. I met with him every day in spiritual direction, teaching and discussion. It was now the great turning point in my life. At the end of our time and in one of our private sessions, Dallas asked me to stand up. He placed both of his hands on my heart and spoke a blessing into me. It felt like electricity flowing into me—a shocking bolt of both love and hope. It was a blessing that I still feel the power of to this day. In my own ministry now, I often bless someone by placing my hand on their heart or on their heads. In doing so, I’m participating in a long and ancient lineage of one person saying good words into someone else.

A blessing has the pregnant possibility to usher someone into transformation. Dallas Willard blessed me in unspeakable ways. The entire vision of Potter’s Inn was blessed by him in one of my sessions. When I wrote my book, “The Jesus Life”—Dallas enthusiastically blessed me again with the endorsement.

In these days leading up to Christmas, I’ve written a blessing that I want to share with you here. It is called, “A Blessing for my Companions.”  These are good words that I have strung together to share with my own companions.  Years ago, I learned that the English word, “companion” literally means in French, “with bread.” It’s the image of two beggars begging for the same thing –bread.   In my work in spiritual direction, I find myself a companion with just a few beggars like myself who are like me, seeking bread. In our times together, we both look; we both are searching and we both need the bread to nourish our souls and lives. 

I wrote this for them and they know who they are.  I also wrote this for those I love most on this blue ball of planet, Earth—my wife, children and grandchildren. I want those I love to really know the power of a blessing. I want them to live a “blessed” life.

I want all of us—all of humanity to live a blessing and to begin to live in a different way than we are at this precise and fragile moment in time and space.

But, this is also a blessing that is for all of humanity. This Christmas, I wanted to find good words to speak knowing how everyone of the human race is in a might predicament—be it in the Middle East or in the  middle of our own turmoil—we all need good words!

May this blessing be the good words that you might say to yourself and discover as Keating described for me, “the blessing is within.” And may they be true bread to share with someone you care about and want to say some good words to this Season.

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This Christmas and New Years, I’d like to simply offer this blessing to everyone. I do hope many of you might consider becoming supporters of my work on Substack. You can do this by becoming a “Paid Subsriber.” It’s a way to both bless and support my own work as I offer it to others here on Substack.

A Blessing for My Companions

by Stephen W. Smith


May your soul feel its worth in the days ahead.
May you sense the worth and weight of your glory.
May you become curious about your splendor, as we marvel at far off galaxies.
May your essence take delight in the one life you have been given to live.

May your soul rise up within you to be larger than your events of this past year.
Let not chronology define you; nor, the places you have visited.
May your right brain be enlarged to comprehend what your left brain cannot yet grasp. 
May your soul expand to comprehend the love that saw you before you were born.
May your soul find the depth to ground you as you anticipate what is ahead.

May you see the dignity in you and in those around you.
May your presence become a light to see and a hearth to give warmth.
May you give because you have been so greatly given to.
May you become your true self; casting off the false narratives you once held.

May your body be given the care and gentleness to carry your soul forward?
May good health be yours for another year in the sojourn towards our Eternal home.
May your heart beat with passion; your mind be consoled by all the good coming towards you.
May the many feelings inside of you give you language to understand yourself and others.

May you find your soul’s companions in the pathway ahead.
May they see you. May they listen to you. May they extend the care you want and need.
May you find solace, haven and shelter in friendship.
May you be the solace; the haven; the shelter and the Incarnation your friend needs.

May the blessing of Nature; the goodness of Creation, the mystery of Wind and the deep Waves bring you every blessing to sustain you and carry you forward.
May the Wild find you and awaken the Wild within.
May you find the freedom your soul longs for and may this freedom be a great blessing.
May the peace of the Creator find a bold residence inside your heart and may you extend this peace to others—who do not yet know what you now know.