Friday, August 15, 2008

May God Bless You

At the conclusion of his message at the Willow Creek Leadership Conference last week, Craig Groeschel read the following Fransciscan Benediction. Thanks to Don Greb who was there and shared it with the rest of us during our staff devotions this week.

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

May we all be so blessed.

4 comments:

dave longstreth said...

love that benediction! thanks for sharing..

Paul said...

Would anger at anyone beating the Steelers qualify as an injustice or oppression?

Peace through victory!

Anonymous said...

Yes, I think that qualifies as an injustice or oppression. Preseason games don't really count, though, Paul.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your encouraging words. My silver linings are Psalm 91 of course, and Psalm 57:1 - Have mercy on me for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until this storm has passed.