Father’s Day has long occupied an important place in American life. Celebrated on the third Sunday in June, it offers a chance to honor those fathers—or father figures—who have made a difference in your life.
What better way is there to honor someone than with a prayer of blessing? (Unless maybe it’s a dozen Krispy Kremes. But I digress). Though the best way to pray a blessing over someone is to do so aloud, in their presence, and preferably with a meaningful touch such as a hand on the shoulder or head.
But the following blessings can also be handwritten in a card, sent via text or email, and prayed from a distance:
1) The Aaronic Blessing
The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.
(Numbers 6:24-26, NIV).
2) An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
(a traditional Irish blessing)
3) A Blessing from the Apostle Paul
May God, out of his glorious riches, strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith.
May you, being rooted and established in love, have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and may you know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
May God, who is utterly able, do immeasurably more for you and in you than all you can ever ask or imagine.
(based on Ephesians 3:16-19, NIV)
4) A Sevenfold Blessing from Scripture
May God be gracious to you.
May God bless you.
May God make his face shine upon you.
May you be strengthened with all power according to God’s glorious might.
May you be filled with joy.
May God give you the desire of your heart,
and make all your plans succeed.
(Drawn from Psalm 67:1, Colossians 1:11, Psalm 20:4)
You may want to combine one or more of these blessings, or add to them specific prayers of your heart for your father (or grandfather, or other father figure). And you don’t have to pray these blessings only on Father’s Day, of course. They work all year round.
