After Patti lights the candles and before we sing and eat, I bless my wife and kids and they bless me. It's a bonding event and a nice ritual. But I think it's even more. I believe something actually happens as we bless each other.
I believe this for two reasons.
In the Old Testament especially, we see fathers blessing their children and according to what we read, that blessing has weight and substance.
Something happens. Something is changed for the child that can't be reversed - see Genesis 27 and Genesis 48.
The second reason I believe something happens when we bless each other is what I have experienced with the poorest of the poor children in slums and squatter camps around the world. When I go to these sad places in Africa, Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, etc., I find that most of the children are not sad.
They live in a dump but their eyes are not dumpy. They shine with expectation because the pastor, father, or daddy (as the African kids call me) has come to bless them.
They don't ask me to bless them. They just grab my hands and put them on their heads.
They don't wait for me to give a blessing. They take it. They demand it.
It always makes me cry.
These are the little children Jesus spoke of who are first in the kingdom. They don't wonder about being worthy of blessing. They just take what they want, somehow knowing it's there for them and knowing it's real.
Here is my blessing for you:
May the God of all forgiveness and love bless you.
May the light of His countenance shine upon you and give you peace.