Intrinsic Reasons to Exercise the Priesthood

[Anonymous]

I was asked by my wife to give Father’s blessings to my children. I didn’t grow up with them, so they aren’t a habit for me. Plus I’ve been feeling less committed to the Church in the last year, and less on fire testimony-wise and about priesthood leadership, so I wasn’t actually clamoring to give the blessings.

But I did so anyway after a week of reflection, a week into the school year, and eventually did so wholeheartedly for the following reasons:

1. They bring comfort to my wife — this is one way I can help her feel at peace.

2. My children always express love afterwards, so, they improve my relationship with my children.

3. I feel spiritual afterwards as a result of the bonding with my family and perhaps due to inspiration God’s influence; giving blessings is a positive, pleasant experience.

4. My children have been taught at Church that blessings are given under inspiration from God, so it’s another, different opportunity for me to give them “instruction”, reinforcing messages I’ve given them in other contexts. If I simply reiterated those message in the same previous contexts (like at the dinner table, or FHE), it would be too repetitive and redundant. But they listen and sit quietly when receiving a blessing, getting prior and new messages, as reinforcemnt.

5. In giving blessings, I’m teaching my son to take responsiblity for his family. If my son becomes an active Mormon someday, lives a clean life, and takes his responsibility for his family, I’ll be pleased. I think that giving blessings shows him how a father can provide spiritual leadership in the family.

None of these are necessarily doctrinal reasons, but I find them to be good reasons, in spite of my hardships with the Church lately. I just wanted to share this, nothing else….

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing that experience.

I became comfortable again giving blessings for the same reasons, even for people who are not my children.

It is a kind service. It brings people comfort. And I am open to the possibility of it being “inspiration” from God on the level of intuition and our subconscious mind telling us things through the symbolic nature of blessing language.

To me, priesthood is about being a priest (or priestess), which is a servant of a god. I believe in the words of Jesus when he said that serving others is serving God. Literal or metaphorical, helping other people is serving God. Blessings are a great form of spiritual service.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing this.

I view priesthood blessings in a different way as well. I am a believer in the Law of Attraction. I am a believer in Energy.

They did a study with water and had subjects send thoughts at the water. The subject was asked to send thoughts of hate and when they did they froze the water and spliced it in half. When they looked at the crystallization of the hated water under a microscope it was very ugly and distorted. They then did the opposite and sent love. They spliced it and found that it had formed into a beautiful crystal. This proves that thoughts have energy and power.

The reason Christ was able to preform miracles on the sick is because he viewed them as they really are. He viewed them as healthy and whole he had NO doubt that this was true. I do not believe for a second that priesthood blessings can only be done by Mormons. I do believe we can heal people with our intentions, our energy and our love. You see your Children in the wholeness of who they really are and in that exact moment that you do that you can and DO create miracles. We all can channel the same energy that creates Worlds because we are made from that very same energy.

just my take on it.

[Anonymous]

Brian Johnston wrote:

Thanks for sharing that experience.

I became comfortable again giving blessings for the same reasons, even for people who are not my children.

It is a kind service. It brings people comfort

Yes! Think about the times something terrible has happened to someone you know. They are full of grief. There really isn’t anything you can say or do to better their situation. In fact, you might even end up saying something that unintentionally offends them in trying to be of help.

However, enter the priesthood blessing. Often people feel spiritual and comforted because the blessing helps them feel God’s love. Giving a blessing is something you can actually DO for the person that has meaning, and to help them feel better. I’m glad I did it for my kids, and only when I felt right and wholehearted about it…

[Anonymous]

SilentDawning wrote:

Think about the times something terrible has happened to someone you know. They are full of grief. There really isn’t anything you can say or do to better their situation. In fact, you might even end up saying something that unintentionally offends them in trying to be of help.

That is a better example than the one I was thinking. My last experience with this was when I volunteered a couple days at YW camp last summer. Instead of giving blessings to people experiencing monumental traumatic problems, I was asked to give blessings for the near-trivial.

One blessing (of many similar ones) was for a young lady who saw a spider in her cabin and couldn’t calm down … 😮 It didn’t bite her. It didn’t even come near her. She just freaked out. Instead of judging the situation or refusing because it seemed silly, I let myself simply be of service. It was a good experience for me and a valuable lesson.

[Anonymous]

Blessings are needed for whatever the individuals feel warrants them. It took me a while to separate my desire to perform the miraculous from another’s need to be comforted – but when I finally did, I found I also was able to be the voice of miracles once in a blue moon. In my own case, it was kind of a lose yourself and find yourself experience.

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