Do you ever wonder who you are or what message God wants you to remember throughout your life that is specifically for you? Your patriarchal blessing gives some answers to these questions.
photo by maarten van den heuvel
We sometimes lose sense of our divine nature. We stand, looking at our reflection in the mirror, wondering if we have any special importance. Although we may question our worth, God never does. He knows all of our unique, marvelous qualities.
Our patriarchal blessings are words from God to us that testify of our special value, our divine natures, and our eternal worth. In a BYU devotional address “A Patriarchal Blessing: A Message of Identity, Promise, and Love,” Robert S. Patterson testifies, as a patriarch, that these blessings come from God.
Patterson reminds us that God knows us better than we know ourselves. All we see is our mortal reflection, but God sees our eternal potential. Patriarchal blessings, Patterson explains, have three parts:
1. A Message of Identity
The pronouncement of lineage in each patriarchal blessing is not to be passed over as a simple connection to biblical tradition. Knowing our lineage—our place in the kingdom—can help us know who we are and what unique role we have to fulfill in God’s plan. “Those who enjoy the status of membership in Israel should know that they have distinguished themselves in the premortal existence,” Patterson says.
2. A Message of Promise
Patriarchal blessings tell us what we can be if we are faithful and obedient. They do not, however, limit our potential blessings to those explicitly pronounced. Furthermore, the fulfillment of patriarchal blessings is not limited to the days of mortality.
3. A Message of Love
Finally, patriarchal blessings are a testament of God’s love for us. They are a reminder that he is our Father and that he is always there for us. “Even in our times of heartfelt loneliness, discouragement, or trial,” Patterson says, “we should be able to turn to our blessing and hear the quiet yet reassuring voice of the Lord saying, ‘I love you.’”
Read Robert Patterson’s full talk “A Patriarchal Blessing: A Message of Identity, Promise, and Love.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Alyssa Nielsen, Mormon Insights
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Find more insights
If you have received your patriarchal blessing, you can access it online.
Read the Mormon Insights article “Patriarchal Blessings: Roadmaps for Our Lives” by Jennifer Johnson to learn more about how patriarchal blessings are gifts from God that can help us reach our potential as his children.
Discover general facts about receiving patriarchal blessings and studying them in the Gospel Topics entry “Patriarchal Blessings.”