Blessing For A Whole Heart…

As we prepare to celebrate this week, the knowing it’s the first Thanksgiving without a special loved one for many and the awareness of the senseless losses reported in the news invites in a sense of reverence, tenderness, and even fierceness in our celebrations.

With these thoughts in my mind, I’m not surprised I was led to Jan Richardson’s Blessing For A Whole Heart (below) in which she acknowledges broken hearts and reminds us of the hope of being called “steadily deeper into the heart of the one who has already dreamed you complete.”

Also reminded by Jan last Thursday evening of the need to celebrate even when it feels uncomfortable, I like to believe that when we authentically celebrate, we make it easier for the hearts of those suffering to ease and open just a little for the light of love to get in.

May we gather together (whether in person, virtually, or via text exchange) with those we love to honor and celebrate all we are grateful for.

A Whole Heart

Blessing for a Whole Heart

You think
if you could just
imagine it,
that would be a beginning;
that if you could envision
what it would look like,
that would be a step
toward a heart
made whole.

This blessing
is for when
you cannot imagine.
This is for when
it is difficult to dream
of what could lie beyond
the fracture, the rupture,
the cleaving through which
has come a life
you do not recognize
as your own.

When all that inhabits you
feels foreign,
your heart made strange
and beating a broken
and unfamiliar cadence,
let there come
a word of solace,
a voice that speaks
into the shattering,

reminding you
that who you are
is here,
every shard
somehow holding
the whole of you
that you cannot see
but is taking shape
even now,
piece joining to piece
in an ancient,
remembered rhythm

that bears you
not toward restoration,
not toward return—
as if you could somehow
become unchanged—
but steadily deeper
into the heart of the one
who has already dreamed you
complete.

—Jan Richardson,
The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief.

A Thanksgiving Blessing

By Joyce Rupp

May an abundance of gratitude burst forth
as you reflect upon what you have received.

May thanksgiving overflow in your heart
and often be proclaimed in your prayer.

May you gather around the table of your heart
the ardent faithfulness, kindness, and goodness
of each person who is true to you.

May the harvest of your good actions
bring forth plentiful fruit each day.

May you discover a cache of hidden wisdom
among the people and events
that have brought you distress and sorrow.

May your basket of blessings surprise you
with its rich diversity of gifts
and its opportunities for growth.

May all that nourishes and resources your life
bring you daily satisfaction and renewed hope.

May you slow your hurried pace of life
so you can be aware of, and enjoy,
what you too easily take for granted.

May you always be open, willing,
and ready to share your blessings with others.

May you never forget the Generous One
who loves you lavishly and unconditionally.