Hello,
“Have a blessed day.” So said the young man from behind the check out counter at the liquor store to me as he handed me the bottle of whiskey that I just paid for. It was not the phrase I was expecting to hear from that person in that place. The young man, in his twenties would be my guess, was nicely dressed and sporting one of those stylish hair “do’s” that you see on NBA players. I had not seen him before in this store, and I had never heard, “Have a blessed day,” spoken to me by any of the other clerks….usually, “thank you”, or “see you”, or sometimes nothing at all. “Have a blessed day.”
It caught me by surprise. I thought that I heard him say it to the two people who checked out in front of me, and so when he handed me my bag, I listened carefully…..and sure enough, “Have a blessed day.”
When he said it, it seemed to naturally flow from his lips. It did not come across as an overly pious pronouncement with head thumping force. Rather his words had a genuine and light feel to them that did not seem overbearing, nor, strangely enough, out of place. I can’t say that I know for sure that his definition of “blessed” stems from my understanding of “blessed”, but by the seeming sincerity of his words, I think it to be so. “Have a blessed day.”
When his words fell upon my ears, I felt a connection to this young man who I had never met before. By his words, I sensed that this young man actually cared about me….cared about me to offer words of encouragement if I was having a tough time of things, cared about me to offer words of a relationship founded on something deeper than the purchase of a bottle of whiskey, cared about me enough to see in me (who in so many ways was different than he) a person walking a common journey with him.
There was power in that young man’s words to me, a power of blessing. It occurred to me that you and I also have that power of blessing…..when such words naturally roll off of our lips because we see in the other one who is journeying with us, one who may be painfully stumbling along the way, and one whose relationship to us is deeper than the connections the world has to offer. When I say at the end of the worship service, “The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bless you now and always,” I hope that benediction propels those who have been worshipping out into the world with divinely grace-full power. But this I know, that when that young man in the liquor store handed me that whiskey laden bag, I felt a surge of grace as I walked toward the door.
His words changed my day. And listen to this…..your words can change someone’s day, too. Change it from drab, troubled, chaotic, meaningless, burdened, lonely, miserable, dull, hopeless……to…….blessed!
Have a BLESSED week!
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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