Tag Archives: blessing

Love Everyone, and Everywhere Love

Leave a reply

Love Everyone, and Everywhere Love

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for Your rooted, yet whimsical, love.
It stands, unmoved by my inner turmoil;
it moves, to stand wherever I am.

Blessed are You
for taking up residence
everywhere, like air.
I breathe Your life
when I remember You
and when I forget You.
I dine at Your expanding table
where there is room for one more
and then one more.

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe, for this:
because You are a safe place, so am I.
We are haven of emotional safety,
home for anger and doubt,
aware that despite their bulky size,
they are effortlessly held within love.
Love is a home big enough,
always big enough.

Dirty Glass

Leave a reply

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe,
for the two stories I see in my window.

One is a reflection:
I see my bathrobe, illuminated by the sun,
and the antique record player behind me,
topped with books and memorabilia.
Partial walls and transient shapes
tell an incomplete story.

The second story is detailed and in full color:
the neighbor’s large plum tree, crowded with pink blossoms;
green lawns, weed patches, roofs and fences;
long shadows on the ground;
intense sun in a cloudless sky.

Blessed are You for this dirty glass, both a window and a mirror.
It collects dust left by rain drops dried in the sun and wind,
and oily smears left by small hands and curious faces.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe,
for the convergence of stories in my window.
The glass both divides and connects,
reminding me that You are glass
between my inside story and my outside story,
always connecting, reflecting, protecting, illustrating;
always letting the light come in.

Worthwhile

Leave a reply

Worthwhile

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for deciding human life was a good idea,
and for the total helplessness
of an infant,
causing mother and child to turn
toward each other over and over,
a hundred times
and then a hundred more.

Blessed are You
for giving us courage,
the desire to survive
and—even more so—to thrive,
to persist in the relationships
that continually test
and sustain us.

Blessed are You
for giving us courage
to believe in one another:
I am worthwhile, worth stillness.
You are worthwhile, worth time.
We are worthwhile, worth effort.

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for giving us courage
to act, or to be still,
to affirm our own dignity
and the dignity of another,
gifting us the intimacy
You created us for,
eternal turning
toward each other,
seeing and being seen.

April Depression

1 Reply

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe,
for the unwanted absurdities
that remind me of gold I have found
while underground.

Today the absurdity is my annual spring depression
—four Aprils in a row.
While leaves and buds expand, my world shrinks
—social anxiety, tears near the surface,
wanting more sleep, more food, more time alone.

A superficial gathering of resources will not work today.
Instead, I will sink like a submarine, slowly,
deep to treasures of a different kind,
treasures found on previous voyages through darkness:
my intrinsic wholeness and unshakeable goodness,
permission to feel without evaluating,
acceptance of a different capacity each day,
invitation to let my heart speak
and to hold its words gently.

I do not find sustenance by grasping
for sunlight at the surface,
but by accepting a descent into darkness,
knowing I will have the company
of my own kindness to myself,
a contentment in the discontent,
until my buoyancy returns
and I surface again.

April Snow

Leave a reply

April Snow

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for sudden snow,
sneaky guest arriving in the night,
subtle blanket laid over
surprised tulip leaves and
sunny yellow forsythia blossoms.

Blessed are You
for slow morning,
snow day—no school,
squiggling paths in the back yard where
sister used Papa’s tow strap to
skate little sister around on a sled.

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for the inviting silence of snow,
sustenance for our rushing souls,
sheet-white brightness filling the world with light,
sacred substance inviting us to
settle in and enjoy one last white wonderland.
Spring is on its way.

Wild, Strong Choice

1 Reply

Wild, Strong Choice

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for the charity of choice:
not the weighty responsibility
I once thought it was,
but a wild freedom
and strength.

Blessed are You for choice,
release from resentment,
return to myself,
invitation to be brave
and to choose Love—
for myself, and for
the person in front of me.

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for the peace
of knowing
I invariably have choice.
I am not a victim; rather,
I am a victor—a chooser—
in Love.

Eyelids

2 Replies

Eyelids

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for eyes that close at night,
taking me from profusion
of colors and shapes
to a quieter, smaller world
behind my eyelids—
reminder that I am small
and needn’t take
the whole world
to bed with me.

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for eyes that close,
inviting me inward
to the quiet safety
of my center,
where I remember
I am whole and holy,
no tweaks necessary.
Everything is okay
here behind my eyelids.

Yes and No meet Love

2 Replies

What are the questions that freeze you inside because the socially or spiritually acceptable answer is “Yes” but your truest answer is “No”?
Can you babysit?
Will you pray for me?
Can you visit Grandma today?
Could you help me move some furniture?
May I borrow your dress? Your truck? Your sewing machine?

Maybe you don’t even know what your honest answer is, because once you feel like you have to say “Yes,” things get really tense inside and you can’t think straight.

Often I have ignored the invitation to engage with my inner dialogue, by quickly saying “Yes” and learning to live with the resentment.

As I slowly learn to be kind to myself, I sit down with my feelings more often, to hear them out. And then I let Love decide. Love is not a yes-woman. Love is as gentle with me as it is with others, and it walks me through these tense places with surprising strength and clarity.

No question has one right answer. Allow yourself to feel all the answers, and make a choice toward the wholeness of every person, including yourself.

Yes and No meet Love

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for the awful feeling
of being trapped by a question:
“Will you pray for me?”
It’s the kind of question
with only one right answer.
I hate that.

Blessed are You
for this discomfort,
invitation to notice
I have separated from myself.
Yes and No at war,
fully aware that Yes will win
and No is hot with powerlessness.

Blessed are You
for the opportunity to re-unite with myself,
for Yes and No to shake hands,
the signal for Love to step forward
and make the call.

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for knowing there is no right answer,
and no wrong answer—
only Love, tender and sharp,
hot lava to my glacier of fear,
lemonade to my sweating soul,
permission slip allowing the confused,
“naughty” half of myself out of detention,
joyful reunion within.

Tension

1 Reply

Tension

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for embracing tension:
snake in the garden,
Israelites in the Red Sea,
King in a feeding trough,
lose your life to save it.

Blessed are You
for a world redeemed
yet still in shambles,
where death produces life,
waiting accomplishes much,
silence speaks,
and Love dances with doubt.

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for showing us hope
and expectation
in the presence of oppression
and dysfunction;
for joy in darkness;
for comfort that holds
every broken piece
with tenderness.

Photo by Damon Hall: https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-photo-of-seashore-1319110/

God’s Idea

1 Reply

God’s Idea

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for having Your own ideas,
different than mine—
puzzling, maddening, beautiful ideas.

Blessed are You for inviting me
from predictable to profound,
always reaching for a new surprise
from Your pocket or bookshelf,
Your eyes twinkling.

Blessed are You,
Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
for surprising me with joy and patience,
witnessing my jaw drop—
I stare at myself in wonder.
I watch myself be Your daughter,
and I glow with gratitude.
Your idea of me is so much better
than mine ever was.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-woman-looking-at-the-mirror-774866/