When I was in the MTC, one of the neat things missionaries did was get their patriarchal blessing shrunk down, double-sided and hard laminated so we could carry it in our pockets. The elders could fit them in their shirt's breast pocket and sisters could tuck them into the side pocket on their scripture case. That way you could, I dunno, whip it out and check for a prophecy while we were out street contacting?
My entire district got their patriarchal blessings shrunk and laminated and I had to admit that my patriarchal blessing was three pages long, which defeated the whole purpose of having a one-page copy that fit in your hand. One of the elders nodded solemnly and said, "I heard that people who have a really long blessing need extra guidance." He said this in a way that made it clear that extra guidance was not a good thing to need.
It turned out to be right. I mean, I did need extra guidance. Also, a good chunk of my patriarchal blessing was fluff and personal opinions. Church leaders emphasize that the most important part of the blessing is the part declaring our lineage. However, when I got my blessing, I was expecting something similar to a palm reading, with personalized advice and a few prophecies.
I've spent a lot of time angry with the Church, and I don't even know where my blessing is at this point, but I have to admit I've had at least one profound experience with my blessing. My blessing goes on for a full paragraph with cautions about marriage, which I thought was completely unnecessary and a bit insulting. Then I got married. The weirdly specific details in that paragraph were irrelevant to dating this guy anyway. Then things got bad. Then I started praying about divorce. Then I realized that paragraph that I disliked so much was in the past tense and those weirdly specific details applied exactly to the situation I was in. All those cautions were about not staying in a bad marriage, not avoiding a bad marriage. I got chills. (And yes, I had to get into the bad marriage or else I wouldn't have my children.)
My blessing also has a bunch of stuff about my life that was just dead wrong. In fact, trying to rely on those lines stretched out some of my hard times for much longer than necessary. I kept thinking that if that one paragraph in my patriarchal blessing was inspired, then the whole thing must be inspired. I was wrong.
Studying my patriarchal blessing was a lot like studying the scriptures. Not every word of the scriptures applies to everyone; not everything is a commandment; not everything is useful or helpful. Some stuff in my blessing applied in ways that made me believe that God knew me personally. And some of it seemed completely irrelevant, and other parts were just plain wrong. I now treat all inspired guidance as a jumping off point, not literal instructions from God. This avoids the need to rationalize and ignore things -- I heard a woman once testify that her patriarchal blessing promised her that she would always have good health if she obeyed the Word of Wisdom, and, other than the cancer and diabetes, she's seen that promise fulfilled.
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Questions:
- Do you have a patriarchal blessing? Was it good, bad or confusing?
- Do you (did you) regularly study the scriptures? Were they good, bad or confusing?
- Are there better ways for you to get promptings?
- Do you even want promptings?
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