Patriarchal Blessings

Today I gave a talk in church about patriarchal blessings. I expect that this will make much more sense to my Latter-day Saint friends, but it may also shed light to my other friends on a particular aspect of our Church that is largely absent in most other denominations -- or at least as far as I know. If this type of thing exists in other Christian churches or even in Judaism, please let me know -- I'd be most interested.

This is an approximation of what I said today ...

Hello everyone ... I'm Mel Windham.

Here in my hand, I hold one of my most prized possessions: my own original copy of my patriarchal blessing.

I remember that day well: September 15, 1984. I was 15 years old -- 10th grade. I remember nothing at all about my preparation, other than -- I think I fasted. My mother and I went to see Patriarch Evans. He spoke with both of us individually. And then he asked me if I wished for my mother to be in the room when he gave me my blessing. I said, "No. This is my blessing." I knew this blessing was personal, and I wished for there to be no other distractions. So, she waited in the other room. 

The Spirit was strong, and it felt like it went on for a long time, and then some of my questions were answered, while others weren't. At times I seemed to see visions of some of the blessings being fulfilled in the future.

When it was all over, my mother came back into the room and we talked about the experience. I knew the blessing came from God, but I didn't know what it meant. It would then take me a lifetime to understand what it would mean for me. 

This is just the beginning of my story, and I have more to tell. 

But first, what is a patriarchal blessing?

President Monson taught that it is a personal Liahona to help guide us through our lives. President Nelson taught it is scripture personal to us, tying us to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And the same blessings promised to them also fall upon us. Thus we can all benefit from our own patriarchal blessing -- just like Abraham blessing his children. 

This year in "Come Follow Me," there's a resource in the very last section on Patriarchal Blessings -- after "December." It explains further that we shouldn't share our blessings in public, and only we can interpret our own blessings. Not bishops, and not even the patriarch who gave us the blessing. Only we can interpret and come to fully understand.

And here's one other new thing I learned. Did you know there is no age limit for receiving this blessing? The Handbook explains:

Every worthy, baptized member is entitled to receive one. That means an 8-yr-old could receive one.

However, we should be mature enough to understand the significance and sacred nature of the blessing, and understand basic doctrine. Ideally, we should receive the blessing before we make many important decisions. This is why most get their blessings in their teen years. Like me -- I was 15.

As there's no minimum age, there's also no maximum age. It's never too late. As long as there are decisions left to be made, we are eligible, and we can benefit from further direction.

So, how does my personal story end? It hasn't. Looking back, I can see how I've internalized my blessing and how it has influenced many of my decisions, which in turn has determined many of my blessings in life. It has shaped my own life mission -- that is, the real things I'm trying to accomplish in life. It has provided me with direction -- in other words, it feels like I'm always improving and getting to where I need to be, and I can see, mostly, what comes next, and what I need to work on. I know who I am, and what I'm supposed to do.

Though, recently I've gone years without looking at my blessing. I only pulled it out for this talk and gave it a fresher analysis with more mature eyes. Yeah -- me mature -- heh!

I notice that 80% of it consists of mainly general blessings, advice, and promises we hear every year as we attend church. Honor your parents, say your prayers, honor the priesthood, magnify your callings, study the scriptures, and so on. I think I've noticed it before, and wondered what makes the blessing so special. If we hear this in church, why do we need our own copy of the same thing?

But this time I noticed what wasn't in there. Turns out to be a lot. Nothing about home teaching or ministering. Nothing about tithing, doing service projects, or raising my family. It's not that these things aren't important to me -- I pay my tithing. I try to do ministering, but I'm not the best. I used to do service projects until everything started hurting. I think I did well raising my kids. [I look over at my wife, and she's getting all emotional.] 

It's just that my life mission is very particular -- based on my personal talents, desires, and knowledge. God gave me a list of items to concentrate on -- specific to my life's mission.

You all probably have a different list of advice and admonitions in your blessings, and different omissions. Try thinking about what's in there and what's missing to see how it fits your own life's mission.

And then there are the parts specific to me. As you may guess, there's a whole paragraph on music, and reading it now, I can see I've only just begun what I'm about to accomplish. Several times it mentions the same words here and there. It seems to see that through my music, words, actions, determination, and attitude, I'm supposed to ... Oh -- oops! I was about to tell you what it says. Remember how I said this is supposed to be personal? I guess it's too bad... Though it's going to be really cool.

One more part of my story -- did you know that you can request the patriarchal blessings of your deceased ancestors? Go check it out. I recommend it. When I learned this I wanted to see my father's patriarchal blessing. He was a great guy. He was smart. He taught me the rules of logic and critical thinking. He helped me to be one of those prodigy geniuses. But he always struggled through life and with the Church. He smoked, and drank, and eventually left our family. Toward the end of his life, he started returning to the Church, but he still died alone. Dreams unfulfilled. No companion to be with him at the end.

So I awaited his patriarchal blessing. Where did he go wrong? What was promised to him? What could have been? And then after a few weeks, I got the email. His blessing didn't exist. He never got one. And now it makes sense. No direction in life. That was a sad day for me.

Well, I suppose that's my story ... so far. So now, I'd like you to think about your own story. You may recognize some of the source material from Elder Bennet's talk in the last Conference: "Your Patriarchal Blessing -- Inspired Direction from Heavenly Father." I recommend checking it out. He said: if you don't have a patriarchal blessing, pray about your readiness, what you need to get ready, and go get one. If you do have a patriarchal blessing, pull it out and study it. If you've lost your copy, you can request a replacement copy.

As baptized members, we are all entitled to our own personal Liahona and personal direction from God. <Close with quick testimony>