“God bless you!”: Why it matters

I was in charge of the cake. That’s it. The cake. And so I dutifully called the small bakery in Northern Virginia where we were living; and ordered the specific cake, in the specific colors, that the specific bride requested. When finishing with my order, I simply said
”thank you”, “good-bye”, and then my usual “and God bless you”. Nothing spectacular, just routine.

And then the next day, I went to pick up the cake. When I told the young shop-owner my name and the cake I had come to get, his face brightened. He rang me up and then said: ‘Wait a minute.” He walked to the back of the shop and came back - with a bouquet of yellow roses!

Now I knew that I had NOT ordered roses; the color didn’t even match the cake! Seeing my expression, he explained. “You called me yesterday, and before I hung up, I heard you say “God bless you”. After that, nothing was the same. The entire day, one amazing thing after another happened - orders came in, usually crabby people were happy, pending disputes were resolved - basically one blessing after another. Initially I couldn’t figure it out, and then later in the day I remembered - you had blessed me! And that blessing from God settled down on me, and on my shop, in such an incredible way - so I wanted to say, “Thank you”. Because of that, I got you these roses. Thank you; and God bless YOU!”

For once, someone was paying attention.

I continue to bless everyone I meet. I started years ago, after reading about the power of ‘blessings’. When we bless someone in God’s name; we are actually depositing His Grace into their lives. And His Grace does AMAZING things - even if the person doesn’t realize it is coming from that; even if they don’t even ‘believe’ in God or His Grace.

So I keep it up. At this point, I do it because it has become a habit; and also because I am so excited to get home to heaven and meet all these people again. I will have all of eternity to hear each and every story of the incredible things God did in their life with the simple blessing I deposited in it. Perhaps there will be those who will thank me - because that blessing made all the difference in them actually being there. Imagine the joy in that reunion!

It’s a wonderful habit. But think about this for a minute: If ALL Christians decided to start doing it, imagine the nuclear power that millions of ‘blessings’ would have in millions of lives. I can’t think of anything more exciting; or more necessary- in such drab and boring times as these!

In fact, time is a wasting… We need to get to it!

God bless you.