SCRIPTURE: “What I the Lord have spoken, I have
spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass
away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine
own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”
-- Doctrine and
Covenants 1:38
“Remember to Start this Study of Your Patriarchal Blessing with a Prayer”
What people are mentioned in your Patriarchal Blessing?
If our patriarchal blessing
is our own personal scripture we should know about the people that are
mentioned in it.Make a list of these people. They may be living or dead; the
names generic or specific. I could not find my list of names from years ago, so
I made another one, while preparing to write this. Boy, was I in for a
surprise.
On first reading I found Joseph, Ephraim, fellow
associates, friends, husband, parents, forefathers, and Elijah. Then I thought,
hmmm should I include Jesus Christ? Well, certainly because He is the very person
who is the author of my blessing!
Who was Your Patriarch?
Then I thought, oh my, here is another name
that I haven’t thought of in many, many years…John Henry Meyers. Who is he, you
ask? He is that worthy Priesthood holder who was the patriarch in the Stake
where I was baptized. His name is at the very top of my blessing. I was the 55th
person to receive a blessing under his hands. I took a moment to ponder what I
knew about him. Not very much. I saw Elder Meyers in the Los Angeles temple,
where he was a sealer, in 1977 some nine years after my blessing was given to
me as a new convert. He remembered me! I couldn’t have been more surprised. I
am sure that he had given another 1,000 or more blessings by then. You see,
once a patriarch always a patriarch. These men must go through a period of
preparation before they can begin giving blessings, at least this was my
understanding from the two other men I knew over the years who were called as
Patriarchs.
Another Important Name in Your Patriarchal Blessing
If I had missed both his name and Jesus Christ’s
name in my blessing who else had I missed. Another reading and I added “sons
and daughters” and “elect of the Lord” to the list. The next morning, I had a
little burst of inspiration that I’d forgotten one name. My own. Sure, most of
you are going to say, “Well duh, Beverly, of course your name is pronounced
first thing when the patriarch lays his hands on your head and gives his
authority to give the blessing.” But over the years, it had simply become
invisible to me.
However, when I’d first received my blessing, all I
could think about was me, me, me. What was God saying to me, me, me? In
reflection, there really is a time to be self oriented and to “know thyself”
and then “to thine own self be true.” In other words, a righteous way not an
egocentrical way to come to understand who you are, why you are here and what
you should be doing with the gifts you’ve been given. A study of your blessing
beyond the surface words will do just that and it can also be humbling, because
the Lord teaches us through personal revelation as we study. He will show us
our weaknesses and areas where we need to improve.
When we come to know who we are (even though we are
not perfect yet), then we realize that we must serve others. We should be an
influence for good in our families, our communities, among our friends and
co-workers, in our callings and in the world. We can find areas to be of
service in the sentences where other people are mentioned in our blessings.
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