Too many blessings?

[theOtter]

I’ve posted this question to my personal blog and am hoping that someone here will have some insight. Feel free to post there; I’d love for what few readers I have to be able to join in the discussion.

Thanks!

The Gospel According to Jeffrey: A Cry for Help

[pam]

Why not just let people discuss it here? That's what these forums are for. Not to direct people to discuss on personal blogs and websites. That then can be considered spam if the intention is to get people and hits on an individual site and blog.

[MorningStar]

That is an interesting subject. A friend in my old ward couldn't take her bipolar meds while she was pregnant or nursing and she said for a while, she needed a priesthood blessing every day to get her through it.

With your son, I might feel inclined to tell him that's overdoing it, but then I wonder if Jesus would tell a child, "Hey, kid. That's enough."

I would encourage him to have his own prayers when he feels scared and I would also get him in to see a doctor. Good luck to you! :)

[John11111]

I remember hearing something about getting blessings over and over and over again. Something about needing to have faith that the one blessing is enough and by requesting blessings over and over again for the same thing we are showing a lack of faith.

We do not believe that the original blessing/s would help us to get better/ get over whatever it is we needed the blessing for in the 1st place. Our part is to have faith in God.

I dont know the explanation was worded alot better and made a lot of sense maybe someone else heard the same thing or something similar and can expound on it further.

[theOtter]

Why not just let people discuss it here? That's what these forums are for. Not to direct people to discuss on personal blogs and websites. That then can be considered spam if the intention is to get people and hits on an individual site and blog.

Sorry about that, Pam. I certainly wasn’t trying to spam; I just wanted to have the discussion in a centralized location so all participants could see the other suggestions. Ironically, I now have responses in at least two different places, neither of which is my blog.

Thanks for the clarification, though!

[theOtter]

I might feel inclined to tell him that's overdoing it, but then I wonder if Jesus would tell a child, "Hey, kid. That's enough."

Thanks, MorningStar. That‘s a lot of what I’m thinking: I don’t want to hurt my son in any way. I don‘t want to take away the belief, even faith, that he’s exhibiting in this case. And yet, at the same time, I don’t want Priesthood blessings to become so unremarkable in his life that they don’t help him, down the road.

[theOtter]

I remember hearing something about getting blessings over and over and over again. Something about needing to have faith that the one blessing is enough and by requesting blessings over and over again for the same thing we are showing a lack of faith.

Absolutely, John. One of the many sources for that concept is my favorite General Conference talk ever, Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ Healing the Sick. I’ve tried to discuss this concept several times, but his five-year-old brain just isn’t quite grasping it. Perhaps an FHE object lesson is in order? I’ve yet to come up with one, though.

[Dravin]

Thanks, MorningStar. That‘s a lot of what I’m thinking: I don’t want to hurt my son in any way. I don‘t want to take away the belief, even faith, that he’s exhibiting in this case. And yet, at the same time, I don’t want Priesthood blessings to become so unremarkable in his life that they don’t help him, down the road.

This statement sort of implies that the operative power behind Priesthood blessings (on the receivers end) is not faith but 'specialness'. Personally my concern would be in line with what John shared, that asking for a priesthood blessing every night may be demonstrating a lack of faith in the ones preceding it. Or more likely, at the age of 5, a misunderstanding of the role of faith in Priesthood blessings and that they don't expire in 12 hours.

Absolutely, John. One of the many sources for that concept is my favorite General Conference talk ever, Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ Healing the Sick. I’ve tried to discuss this concept several times, but his five-year-old brain just isn’t quite grasping it. Perhaps an FHE object lesson is in order? I’ve yet to come up with one, though.

Have him salt some food to an appropriate level and have him take a bite, now have him keep eating and after each bite put more salt on the food until it's unpalatable. The lesson being that once you've salted your food you don't need to keep salting it with each bite as the salt doesn't go away between bites. Likewise the priesthood blessings don't go away with each night. You could use sugar but considering some 5-year olds will just straight up eat sugar it may backfire.

It's an imperfect analogy, and may be prone to 5-year old misunderstanding, but it's what comes to mind on short notice. Another thought that comes to mind is that when he asks for another blessing redirect him towards praying with him to have faith in the initial one.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Dravin