The Blessing Files

Blessing for endings

shawnchristian — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:01:06 +0000

May your endings be embraced with fervor equal to what
you gave your beginnings.
May the stopping places in your life create a space
for what is yet to be known.
Instead of sorrow, may you find joy.
Instead of hopelessness, may you find possibility.
Instead of terror, may you find peace.
When you face an ending,
may you know it as another beginning
tinged with the potential of a small seed in dark soil.
In the blackness of grief may life push through
and soften your sadness.

- from “Lenten Blessings” on explorefaith.org

Tagged: endings, journey

Awaken a better future

shawnchristian — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:01:46 +0000

Quantum science suggests the existence of many possible futures for each moment of our lives. Each future lies in a state of rest until it is awakened by choices made in the present. A two-thousand year old scroll written by the prophet Isaiah describes precisely such possibilities in a language that we are just beginning to understand. In addition to sharing his visions of our time, Isaiah described the science of how we choose which future we experience. Each time we do so, we experience the Isaiah Effect.

- Gregg Braden in The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy (2001)

Tagged: choices, future, possibilities, prophecy

Strike that balance

shawnchristian — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:01:11 +0000

Don’t worry about what others say about your music. Pursue whatever you are hearing… but if everybody really hates your music maybe you could try some different approaches.

- Wynton Marsalis, jazz trumpeter and composer

Tagged: creativity, individualism

Let go when you can

shawnchristian — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:01:02 +0000

At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough. No record of it needs to be kept and you don’t need someone to share it with or tell it to. When that happens—that letting go — you let go because you can. The world will always be there—while you sleep it will be there—when you wake it will be there as well. So you can sleep and there is reason to wake.

- from Tar Baby (1981), a novel by Toni Morisson, recipient of both the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes in fiction

Tagged: freedom, possessiveness

The Peace of Wild Things

shawnchristian — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:01:55 +0000

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— poem “The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry, American man of letters

Tagged: freedom, peace, wildlife

Touch Hands

shawnchristian — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 08:01:27 +0000

Ah, friends, dear friends, as years go on
and heads get gray,
how fast the guests do go!
Touch hands, touch hands,
with those that stay.
Strong hands to weak,
old hands to young,
around the Christmas board, touch hands.
The false forget, the foe forgive,
for every guest will go
and every fire burn low
and cabin empty stand.
Forget, forgive, for who may say
that Christmas day may ever come
to host or guest again.
Touch hands!

- William Henry Harrison Murray (1840-1904)

Tagged: christmas, poem, william henry harrison murray

A Christmas Blessing

shawnchristian — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 08:01:07 +0000

May peace and goodwill, prosperity and plenty,
joy and satisfaction abound in your homes
and in your hearts this day and all days.
May opportunities for good work be many,
and may you avail yourselves of them all.
May your sorrows be lightened, may your griefs be assuaged.
May your souls be fitted for what they must endure;
may your backs be strengthened for your burdens;
may your responsibilities be met; may your obligations be discharged;
may your duties be performed.
May love abound more and more until the perfect day breaks in your lives.
In short, every wish that would be helpful, uplifting, and comforting,
I wish you at this hour and in all hours.

In the words of Tiny Tim. ”God Bless us every one!”

-Cyrus Townsend Brady, A little book for Christmas, 1917.

Tagged: christmas

Do you hear what I hear?

shawnchristian — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 08:01:49 +0000

Said the night wind to the little lamb,
“Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star, dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite,
With a tail as big as a kite.”

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
“Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song high above the trees
With a voice as big as the the sea,
With a voice as big as the the sea.”

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
“Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold–
Let us bring him silver and gold,
Let us bring him silver and gold.”

- song composed by Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne Baker in 1962. Originally it was written as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but the song has become part of a traditional Christmas repertoire.

Tagged: christmas, peace

Short and long in the winter

shawnchristian — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:01:15 +0000

From the rising of the midwinter sun to its setting
Scatter the darkness with the light of your love, O Shining One.
Make me short on mean thoughts, long on offering words of comfort
Make me short on being driven, long on paying attention
Make me short on focusing only on my own, long on looking beyond
Make me short on obsessive lists, long on spontaneous acts of kindness
Make me short on mindless activity, long on time to reflect
Make me short on tradition as a habit, long on re-discovery and re-owning
Make me short on rushing and tiring, long on walking and wondering
Make me short on false festive jollity, long on stilling and rooted joy
Make me short on guilt, long on being merciful to myself
Make me short on being overwhelmed, long on peaceableness as I set forth this day

- “A Mid-Winter Prayer” by Tess Ward, from The Celtic Wheel of the Year

Tagged: celtic, winter

Never mind the rest

shawnchristian — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:01:40 +0000

All outward forms of religion are almost useless, and are the causes of endless strife. . . .
Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest.

- Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and many other beautiful stories.

Tagged: faith, simplicity