Blessings for Spring

I’ve been thinking quite a lot about blessings lately and how to write them. Blessings should come as naturally as swearing in traffic or gesturing like a mad woman at the computer when the words don’t flow and I feel like my brain has morphed into cotton candy. Yet they don’t. Not for me.

I think the reason I’ve been working on reading and writing blessings is that life has been challenging over the last year or so for me and many of my friends and acquaintances. Challenges that are more than inconvenient. In many cases, these challenges have been life altering. Even potentially good alterations in life can truly stink at the moment. When these challenges come and it’s time to take a deep breath and say, Well hell, that didn’t go as planned…time for a new plan, many of us fall back on our work to keep us whole.

Work is something we all do. It is something each and every one of us wants to take pride in and do our utmost to see done well no matter what it is—with the possible exceptions of answering e-mails and maintaining a clean house. Spring is a time when, for most of us who write, we start to panic at all that we need to see done before the year’s end. If you don’t have this quasi-paniced drive and worry kicking in now, skip immediately to the blessing, you are already well adjusted.

I love the energy of spring. The new growth. The feeling that, yes!, this is going to be the best work year for me yet. I will see better work accomplished. I will improve in craft, content and volume of what I do. These are things I can control. These are doable things. To achieve that there must be balance and an appreciation that not everything is going to go according to plan. That can be a good thing too.

So, as spring progresses and life begins to bloom again in the world around us, I am hopeful it will bloom in our spirits with renewed energy. We are looking forward to our new box set here on Main Street and it has the same theme: LOVE BLOOMS. Indeed, it does. Always.

Here’s a blessing I love from John O’ Donohue in his book on Celtic spirituality, Anam Cara:

May the light of your soul guide you. May the light of your soul bless the work you do with the secret love and warmth of your heart. May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul. May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light, and renewal to those who work with you and to those who see and receive your work. May your work never weary you. May it release within you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration, and excitement. May you be present in what you do. May you never become lost in the bland absences. May the day never burden. May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities, and promises. May evening find you gracious and fulfilled. May you go into the night blessed, sheltered, and protected. May your soul calm, console, and renew you.

May you always find something sacred in every day. I hope spring brings a feeling of renewal to you all. May each of us strive for perfection and find excellence at least once every day in whatever we do. Happy Spring!

 

Leigh