bless

Numbers 6:22-26 (NLT)

 ²² Then the Lord said to Moses, 

²³ “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:

 ²⁴ ‘May the Lord bless you

      and protect you.

 ²⁵ May the Lord smile on you

      and be gracious to you.

 ²⁶ May the Lord show you his favor

      and give you his peace.’

~*~

These verses have been rolling around in my head since I read them this morning.  The blessing ("may the Lord bless you and protect you...") is not something I've never heard before.  What I noticed in reading this today is the fact that the Lord tells Moses to tell Aaron (and his boys) to bless His people in this way.

instructed - commanded? - to bless

not because they felt like it.

not because anyone deserved it.

just because God told them they should.

Meg @ abarefootday wrote a series of lovely, inspiring posts about letter writing a while back, during National Letter Writing Week (who knew?).  Her pretty blog and authentic writing style made me think about this letter writing thing that I haven't done in quite a while.  Unfortunately, the thinking didn't turn into action.  :(

Until today!  When I heard the Lord tell me to bless.

Maybe my friends won't be so super-blessed by my cheese-y homemade valentines, but I hope they'll know they are loved and thought of whether near or far.

How are you blessing the people in your life?