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iQuestions Faculty, Dr. John Trent 
 
 
Question: 
 
I've heard there's something called "The Blessing" that every kid 
needs. What is "The Blessing?" 
 
Answer: 
 
Hey, I really want to thank you for clicking on this question about the 
blessing, because this doesn’t have anything to do with, you know, 
“What do you say when someone sneezes,” or even saying blessing at 
a meal. 
 
What I am talking about is that intensely personal gift that parents in 
the Old Testament gave their kids, that can give us a picture of what 
we need to give our kids.  
 
Now, here is what I mean. I’m going to go through five things with you 
really quickly, and I want you to picture that’s a gift that was either 
given to you by your mom and dad or was something they withheld. 
And then I want you to also ask, as a parent, “Am I giving these five 
things, or is this something I’m withholding?” 
 
Well, those five things that were always a part of that blessing in the 
Old Testament, number one, was appropriate, meaningful touch. In 
other words, did you grow up in a home where one gift that was given 
was somebody that would hug you or come up and ruffle your hair, or 
give you that meaningful backrub—appropriate, meaningful touch? 
 
Now, I didn’t. I grew up in a home where it was OK to hug your horse, 
not your kids. I grew up in a single-parent home, and my mom was 
arthritic, and I didn’t even know my dad growing up. So, when it 
 
 
comes to appropriate touch, I didn’t get that. But you now what? With 
our kids, that’s something I’ve given them, because that was always a 
part of that biblical blessing. 
 
The second thing is, the blessing was always verbalized. It was always 
verbalized. That’s so important. I meet people all the time who say, “I 
know I was loved, but I never once heard it.” Well if you never heard it 
verbally, then that part of the blessing is something that you probably 
didn’t get. 
 
Here’s the third thing. The blessing not only was words, but it was 
words attached high value to a person. They said to you, “You know 
what? You are so valuable.” The word blessing literally is like taking a 
coin and adding it to a scale. It literally means to add weight or value 
to a person.  
 
Think about that. When you bless someone with words that tell them 
that they are valuable, it’s like adding a coin or weight or value to their 
life.  
 
Well, that leads a person to number four, where they really begin to 
believe that they have a special future.  
 
Now, I have a really smart twin brother. He’s a great guy, and he 
graduated summa cum laude in college. I graduated Lordy, how come? 
from college. But I know one of the things my mom did was that, even 
though Jeff was the scholar and I was the one who was actually kicked 
out of grade school in fifth grade—regardless of who we were, guess 
what?—my mom looked at both of us and said, “Each of you have a 
special future. God can use you in unique and special ways. Not the 
same, but you both have a special future.” 
 
And then the last one is, genuine commitment. That is, do we have 
somebody in our life that is saying, “I’m going to give you that 
 
 
blessing, that touch, and those words that are like adding a coin to 
your life, and helping you picture a special future”? Are they saying to 
you, “I’m committed. I’m going to give you that for a lifetime”?  
 
Well, I hope every one of you can say, “I got that.” And I hope every 
one of you can say, “I’m giving those five things to my kids.” 
 
 
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