Good morning…
I met a powerful poem, a poem I have shared repeatedly this week. In person and over the phone. With our small groups and with a few soul friends. Reading slowly, reading twice, we have noticed together the words which touch us most deeply. Like Moses leading beloved followers through the wilderness, today might this poem lifts its arms and bless us each profusely?
Read slowly. Read twice. Notice what touches you.
******
BELOVED IS WHERE WE BEGIN
If you would enter
into the wilderness,
do not begin
without a blessing.
Do not leave
without hearing
who you are:
Beloved,
named by the One
who has traveled this path
before you.
Do not go
without letting it echo
in your ears,
and if you find
it is hard
to let it into your heart,
do not despair.
That is what
this journey is for.
I cannot promise
this blessing will free you
from danger,
from fear,
from hunger
or thirst,
from the scorching
of sun
or the fall
of the night.
But I can tell you
that on this path
there will be help.
I can tell you
that on this way
there will be rest.
I can tell you
that you will know
the strange graces
that come to our aid
only on a road
such as this,
that fly to meet us
bearing comfort
and strength,
that come alongside us
for no other cause
than to lean themselves
toward our ear
and with their
curious insistence
whisper our name:
Beloved.
Beloved.
Beloved.
—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
******
Steve and I wake with thirty spirited travelers in the city Beer Sheva in the Negev region of Israel. We are preparing to enter the desert wilderness where Moses and the Israelites walked many, many years ago. Beloved is where we all begin, those here in Israel for our ten day trip and those at home around the globe.
Quieting into our innermost being, do we hear who we truly are? Beloved. Might we let God’s blessing echo in our ears, allowing the truth of our core identity to gradually sink like a skipping stone into our tender hearts? Beloved. Preparing to enter life’s wilderness today, may we each be open to help, to rest, to strange graces which aid, comfort, and strengthen us, whispering our name. Beloved.
…Sue…
