Blessings

TO COME HOME TO YOURSELF

May all that is unforgiven in you
Be released.

May your fears yield
Their deepest tranquilities.

May all that is unlived in you
Blossom into a future
Graced with love.

– John O’Donohue –

from: To Bless the Space Between Us:
A Book of Blessings

~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HARDEST BLESSING

If we cannot
lay aside the wound,
then let us say
it will not always
bind us.

Let us say
the damage
will not eternally
determine our path.

Let us say
the line of our life
will not always travel
along the places
we are torn.

Let us say
that forgiveness
can take some practice,
can take some patience,
can take a long
and struggling time.

Let us say
that to offer
the hardest blessing,
we will need
the deepest grace;
that to forgive
the sharpest pain,
we will need
the fiercest love;
that to release
the ancient ache,
we will need
new strength
for every day.

Let us say
the wound
will not be
our final home—

that through it
runs a road,
a way we would not
have chosen
but on which
we will finally see
forgiveness,
so long practiced,
coming toward us,
shining with the joy
so well deserved.

– Jan Richardson –

“The Hardest Blessing” from Jan’s book
The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief
and her blog “The Painted Prayerbook”

Photo Credit:  Joseph Barrientos on Unsplash