New Year's Blessings
"May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire."
~Irish Blessing
We moved into our German home on Christmas eve and barely had boxes unpacked when there came a knock at the door. When I opened the door, there stood four German people, a mother and three children smiling intently at me. The children were dressed in costumes, looking like kings. They were holding staffs and presents. The mother began talking to me in German. I'm not sure what my face looked like, but she immediately knew that I had no earthly idea what was happening on my front doorsteps. She handed me a paper, written in German, with a picture of the three wise men on it. The children began to sing "We Three Kings" and she stepped beyond me to our front door. With a piece of chalk she wrote on the top of our door 20 * B*M*G *04. With that done, they smiled and left me standing dumbfounded on our front step.
We had experienced the traditional blessing of our home by the three wise men. The story goes that the wise men found baby Jesus a little late and they brought gifts. The blessing of the home is done by the wise men and the prayer is that the home will received blessings and gifts throughout the year. The writing on the door is of the year with the first initials of each wise man in between to symbolize those blessings. The chalk writing stays up all year, and for subsequent years, the wise men need only change the last number.
This blessing meant so much to me. The day that happened was merely a month before Vic's first deployment. With the coming of the New Year, I had to face the music of the days that would lie ahead. While others rang the New Year in with excitement for the coming time, I had dread and anger and all of the predeployment emotions. If ever there was a year that my home needed to be blessed, I felt that was the one. As the years in Germany progressed, this arrival of the wise men was something I cherished.
It is time for the wise men to appear again. It is time to find the blessing and the chalk and muster the family around the front door of our home. We don't dress up as kings, and I'm sure the kids don't want to sing, but we do bless the house and say a prayer. We write the blessing on the top of our door.
For me, this is a little way to pay homage to our time in Germany. It's a way to remember the fears conquered and the friends made, the triumphs and the tough days. It's a time to look to the hope of a New Year and to set a course for the great things to come.
This year, I think we'll surprise a few neighbors and friends and bless their houses too. I can't wait to see their faces.
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire."
~Irish Blessing
We moved into our German home on Christmas eve and barely had boxes unpacked when there came a knock at the door. When I opened the door, there stood four German people, a mother and three children smiling intently at me. The children were dressed in costumes, looking like kings. They were holding staffs and presents. The mother began talking to me in German. I'm not sure what my face looked like, but she immediately knew that I had no earthly idea what was happening on my front doorsteps. She handed me a paper, written in German, with a picture of the three wise men on it. The children began to sing "We Three Kings" and she stepped beyond me to our front door. With a piece of chalk she wrote on the top of our door 20 * B*M*G *04. With that done, they smiled and left me standing dumbfounded on our front step.
We had experienced the traditional blessing of our home by the three wise men. The story goes that the wise men found baby Jesus a little late and they brought gifts. The blessing of the home is done by the wise men and the prayer is that the home will received blessings and gifts throughout the year. The writing on the door is of the year with the first initials of each wise man in between to symbolize those blessings. The chalk writing stays up all year, and for subsequent years, the wise men need only change the last number.
This blessing meant so much to me. The day that happened was merely a month before Vic's first deployment. With the coming of the New Year, I had to face the music of the days that would lie ahead. While others rang the New Year in with excitement for the coming time, I had dread and anger and all of the predeployment emotions. If ever there was a year that my home needed to be blessed, I felt that was the one. As the years in Germany progressed, this arrival of the wise men was something I cherished.
It is time for the wise men to appear again. It is time to find the blessing and the chalk and muster the family around the front door of our home. We don't dress up as kings, and I'm sure the kids don't want to sing, but we do bless the house and say a prayer. We write the blessing on the top of our door.
For me, this is a little way to pay homage to our time in Germany. It's a way to remember the fears conquered and the friends made, the triumphs and the tough days. It's a time to look to the hope of a New Year and to set a course for the great things to come.
This year, I think we'll surprise a few neighbors and friends and bless their houses too. I can't wait to see their faces.
Comments