May We Know Hope

“to follow God does not often mean traveling with certainty about where God will lead us. Rather, following God propels us to be present to the place where we are, for this is the very place where God shows up.”― Jan L. Richardson, Through the Advent Door: Entering a Contemplative Christmas

Hope, joy, bliss, peace and light to you today.
Be a gardener of hope, tilling, weeding, feeding.
Hope of substance, muscle, bone, breath, hollering.
May we know hope, be hope and held by hope, each day.

BLESSING OF HOPE

“So may we know
the hope
that is not just
for someday
but for this day—
here, now,
in this moment
that opens to us:

hope not made
of wishes
but of substance,

hope made of sinew
and muscle
and bone,

hope that has breath
and a beating heart,

hope that will not
keep quiet
and be polite,

hope that knows
how to holler
when it is called for,

hope that knows
how to sing
when there seems
little cause,

hope that raises us
from the dead—

not someday
but this day,
every day,
again and
again and
again.”

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