{"id":14339,"date":"2026-05-16T22:42:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=14339"},"modified":"2026-05-16T22:42:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:42:48","slug":"blessings-for-those-we-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=14339","title":{"rendered":"Blessings for Those We Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At my church, our much-loved pastor is getting transferred, and her last Sunday is in a few weeks. So the choir director brought out a song we’re going to sing to her on her last Sunday.<\/p>\n

I was blown away by this song, because it’s essentially a Blessing Psalm. I plan to memorize it and sing it in my heart for so many people I love, though the first one will be Pastor Gina.<\/p>\n

Let me talk about Blessing Psalms for a moment. The ones in Psalms are Psalms 20, 67, 128, and 134, though there are other poems of blessing in other books of the Bible, such as the one the priests were to pray for the people. The blessings offered aren’t specific prayers, but they’re full of love and goodwill. Psalm 20 is my favorite, with passages like this:<\/p>\n

May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
\nmay the name of the God of Jacob protect you….
\nMay he give you the desire of your heart
\nand make all your plans succeed.
\nMay we shout for joy over your victory
\nand lift up our banners in the name of our God.
\nMay the LORD grant all your requests.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You’ll see how the song we’ll be singing fits right in with that. So instead of writing my own example psalm, here’s a Song of Blessing composed by a professional.<\/p>\n

I brought the music home to copy the words. Of course, it hits your heart more deeply when sung.<\/p>\n

A Blessing of Music<\/strong><\/p>\n

Words and Music by Joseph M. Martin<\/p>\n

May your days be filled with music.
\nMay your path be paved with song.
\nMay the sounds of forever lift you up and keep you strong.
\nMay your heart resound with laughter.
\nMay your life be tuned for praise.
\nMay the hymns of faith bring you hope.
\nMay the rhythm of your life bring you joy.
\nMay the harmony of friendship bring you love.
\nMay the Maker bless and keep you.
\nMay God’s music guide your ways.
\nMay God’s gentle whisper always comfort you with grace.
\nMay the voices of angels sing you peace.
\nAmen<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am going to have trouble singing this without crying on the day – it will be sung with much love!<\/p>\n

May you, reader, also receive this blessing of music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At my church, our much-loved pastor is getting transferred, and her last Sunday is in a few weeks. So the choir director brought out a song we’re going to sing to her on her last Sunday. I was blown away by this song, because it’s essentially a Blessing Psalm. I plan to memorize it and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blessing-psalms","category-praying-with-the-psalmists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14341,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14339\/revisions\/14341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}