May you hold your own heart gently
As you make it through this day.
Sometimes it is enough
Just to breathe, just to wait.
Words, even tears, are not required.
Those hollow places are sacred,
Holding room for the grace
That quietly surrounds you.
[drawing by Bill Rogers per cc 2.0]
May you rest your head, this evening, upon a pillow of rich and beautiful dreams – where your imagination runs barefoot across a meadow of delight.
May your heart be set free from the concerns of the day.
May your soul find its home in the hollow of God’s hand.
May you receive and return that primal love
That calls the universe to life and sustains its every breath.
[image cropped from photo by angrylambie1 per cc 2.0]
As you snuggle into sleep at night,
May you be wrapped in a deep sense of peace,
Grateful for the day’s challenges and delights.
May your dreams be touched by the heart of God,
Filling you with hope and courage and purpose.
May you wake to the assurance
That you are fully, deeply loved.
May you live each day in the knowledge
That nothing can separate you from that love,
No matter where you go, or what you do.
May your smile continue to light up a room.
May your eyes crinkle with delight and wonder
At all the beauty of the world around you.
May you add your creativity to the larger dance of life,
And receive with joy the gifts that come your way.
May your hands be quick to help.
May your words be full of kindness.
May your friendships be true.
May you embrace your life with grace and gusto,
Giving and receiving joy along the way.
May the soft breeze of God’s whisper
Lift your heart as you arise.
May God’s dear smile
Play across the faces of your friends,
As you greet each other along the way.
May you find yourself joyfully engaged
In those tasks most suited to your gifts.
May you deeply know, even in the midst
Of troubles and questions and seeming failure,
That you, yourself, will never be abandoned.
May you see that any gift,
Given in love into the hand of God,
Softens the edges of reality,
And widens the flow of grace.
Each act of love
Is a step
In the redemption of the world.
[photo by Styleღwithღattitude per cc 2.0]
May the cool fingers of morning
Brush your cheek as you arise.
May the deep peace of the meadow
Rock your soul in sweet embrace.
May the light of loving truth
Dawn upon your soul.
May you wake to the life
That belongs to you,
Seeded deep within your very self –
A gift of your creation,
The delight of all who love you.
May you find and live your areté.
[photo by Hafiz Issadeen per cc 2.0]
It can help to mark the endings.
Otherwise, things run together
And meaning gets lost in the tangle
Of next, next, next.
We can lose sight of the full circle.
We can fail to recognize when something is finished;
Completed;
Done.
There is a quiet beauty in the sunset.
In the sigh at the end of the day.
It is a whispered permission
To let go what you cannot hold, anyway.
It is good to give it your best
And it is good to let that be enough.
That is when that period at the end of the day
Is, indeed, a blessing.
When you open sleepy eyes this morning
And remember that it is Christmas,
May your heart lift with joy.
May the first gift of your morning
Be the deep contentment of being held in love.
May you see all the gifts that grace this day,
Knowing that the tinsel gifts of your childhood
Were just the shadow –
A pattern of the kind of gifting
That flows from one to another, to another,
One gift begetting the next,
Until all are giddy with the exchange.
May you see the world with Christmas eyes,
Where the true economy – the economy of love – takes root.
Where it really is more blessed to give than to receive,
Where we can rest our hearts, our lives,
In the sure confidence that love will triumph,
That, at the end of the day, empty wrapping paper on the floor
It not a sign that it is over
But the promise that it has just begun.
May you greet the Christ, newborn into your heart this day.
May that Christ, the very essence of God made manifest,
Shine forth in every leaf and blade,
In every smile and hug,
In every gift that brings the giver’s heart close to your own.
May you see the exchanges of love made manifest.
May you give and receive in joy this day.
Merry Christmas.
