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Lenten Blessings

Lent is a time to honor the journey – the journey that leads us from life to death and back into life again.  For days that seem hard, and even negative, there is a path of blessing that can be accessed and utilized for the growth of our soul.  Life takes us into the core of our own self, it travels through troubled waters of suffering and lonely spaces of emptiness, urging us to seek the God beyond us and recognize the new life that  issues forth from death.  Lent itself is but a mirror of this journey of life.  Lent condenses the journey of life into 40 days, yet when those days are watched with care and openness, blessings emerge that might never have been expected.  Let these blessings be an aid to you on your Lenten journey. May they be holy words that strengthen your soul, words that engender and create life.

A Blessing for the Journey into Self
May the Wind of God drive away impurity
and bring fresh and vigorous possibility to your soul.
May the freeing Spirit unbind those places within
held captive by hopelessness, anxious thoughts and internal discord.
And may you find a middle place of awareness,
between the blowing and the stillness,o feel and watch the movement from old to new.

A Blessing for the Journey into Suffering
May the suffering that stretches your soul
also render it  pliable in the hand of God.
May the stretch be soft, so you can endure it
with unyielding patience.
May your vision be clear so that,
no matter the trial, you can
see the wonder standing quietly nearby.
And in the very thing you long to cast away,
may you find a gem worth keeping.

A Blessing for the Journey into Emptiness
May the days that beckon the journey open a space
between what is and what will be,
a space of emptiness waiting to be filled.
May the things that sit at the edge of revelation
move silently into that emptiness.
May they be noticed with attention and claimed as gifts
given from the holy hand of heaven.
When the gifts have been offered and received,
may your soul be filled with gratitude
to God who initiated the journey and provided the blessing.

A Blessing for the Journey of Seeking God
When your soul whispers of its deepest longings, 
may you quiet yourself to listen.
May you follow the path of yearning to the One alone who blends the uneven edges
into a life of meaning.
May you meet and be united with God
and give thanks for the whispers
that led you there.

A Blessing for the Journey of Death
May your endings be embraced with fervor equal to what
you gave your beginnings.
May the stopping places in your life create a space
for what is yet to be known.
Instead of sorrow, may you find joy.
Instead of hopelessness, may you find possibility.
Instead of terror, may you find peace.
When you face an ending,
may you know it as another beginning
tinged with the potential of a small seed in dark soil.
In the blackness of grief may life push through
and soften your sadness.