As I began prepping my porch for spring and summer, I saw that others had arrived for another reason. My patio has become an Airbnb, of sorts. And I get to watch as this couple settles in to make a family.
It is a reminder… we don’t control everything. There is a rhythm in life. It is spring, and we watch as new birth appears far and wide.
RISEN
For Easter Day
If you are looking
for a blessing,
do not linger
here.
Here
is only
emptiness,
a hollow,
a husk
where a blessing
used to be.
This blessing
was not content
in its confinement.
It could not abide
its isolation,
the unrelenting silence,
the pressing stench
of death.
So if it is
a blessing
you seek,
open your own
mouth.
Fill your lungs
with the air
this new
morning brings
and then
release it
with a cry.
Hear how the blessing
breaks forth
in your own voice,
how your own lips
form every word
you never dreamed
to say.
See how the blessing
circles back again,
wanting you to
repeat it,
but louder,
how it draws you,
pulls you,
sends you
to proclaim
its only word:
Risen.
Risen.
Risen.
More than ever, I am mindful of how John’s Gospel tells us Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark and found it already empty. I am relying on that beautiful detail: that even when all seems to be in shadow, the work of Easter has already begun. On this very different resurrection day, this blessing is for you.
Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
Image: “While It Was Still Dark”
© janrichardsonimages.com
“At times we will be asked to let go of things that we have always wanted to keep for ourselves, or things that we would never have thought that we would to have to let go of, such as the loss of a loved one or the betrayal of a dear friend. A tree never hesitates to shake off her leaves during fall, and so we must take another lesson given to us by the nature: let go when it is time. Although such losses can be difficult and painful, rise above this suffering. Focus within your mind, the image of the Lotus prospering above mud. We are the lotus; rise above.”
Purple Buddha Project: Purple Book of Self-Love
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
John 13:21-32 – the betrayal of Judas
“…This gift,
this chrism meant for you alone
lifts up its heady scent and fills
this house like prayer, confirming dust
with sanctity and all because
you came into my life on feet
like dusty heartbeats beating bare.”
Quote: taken from ‘Bethany’, a poem by Capuchin Friar David Hirt
John 12: 1–11 Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with “costly perfume”
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
Quote: Ann Lamont
Carrie's Bench 
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