Throughout the course of any given day, we may ask for God's blessing-for ourselves or for others-almost as a matter of routine.

We ask for God's blessing on occasions and for people in our lives: for births and birthdays, for friends and family. We ask for God's blessing during times of great sadness-illness and death-and at times of great joy-Baptisms and weddings. We ask for God's blessing when we awake and when we go to bed at night. We ask for God's blessing on our country. We ask for God's blessing for our food. We even ask for God's blessing when someone sneezes or as a way of greeting or to conclude an email message.

Authors Mary J. Moerbe and Christopher Mitchell take that word-bless-that many may use routinely and, through scriptural exploration and study, illustrate how it's anything but routine.