Blessing the land

I've always done that wherever we've lived. I've walked the land or yard or apartment and I've asked for and pronounced the blessing on the land or space we've lived in.

It's been my experience that places and land can hold memories of previous blessings and cursings and occasionally I've been called over to bless a dark place that's been used for evil violent purposes and ever since those events, the space feels heavy or dark to the owners. Or sometimes a new home will not feel at peace and the new owners find themselves under tension and heaviness until something can be done about it spiritually.

You can notice distinct shifts in not only the atmosphere of the place, but actual shifts in what grows on the land and what animals behave differently when the blessing is there. I recall being on the Isle of Iona and the oddest thing would happen with the song birds. They would come right up to you and land within easy access of humans. They would even walk or hop alongside as I would walk. I've never seen that before. Odd.

The snow has kept me from walking this place all winter and so I was anxious to get walking and when I walk I pray. So last week I began the rhythm of walking and praying and blessing the land once again. I didn't do it because I felt any heaviness or anything, I just do it as a matter of fact, a discipline of discipleship if you will.

Interestingly all spring I've been watching for the deer to return to the yard but there has been nothing and given what I saw in previous years and what I've been seeing in the fields, I thought there would be deer around. Through the winter we saw some evidence of coyotes and foxes and possibly a large cat hunting through the yard, but very little deer activity.

Then late last week I started walking and blessing again, not making any connection between the two. Within two days the deer had returned to the yard. As I stood at the window watching these majestic animals, God poked my heart and drew a line from that moment, back two days to the prayer of blessing, and I smiled.

I'm telling that story now because ten deer just waltzed past my office window and are currently mowing my front lawn.



You should give it a try, see what the blessing brings.