loved

Good morning…

I texted her yesterday, “Kate Bowler’s blessing is deeply yours today.”

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A blessing for when you’re different now by Kate Bowler

Blessed are you, dear one, when the world around you has changed.

Everything is different now,
your body, your age, your relationships, your job, your faith.

The things that once brought you joy.
The way you existed in the world.
The people you love and trust and rely on.

Things have changed and it would be silly to imagine you haven’t changed with them.
You are not who you once were.

Bless that old self,
they did such a good job with what they knew.
They made you who you were,
all the mistakes and heartbreak and naiveté and courage.

And blessed are who you are now,
you who aren’t pretending things are the same,
who continue to grow and stretch and show up to your life as it really is:
wholehearted, vulnerable, maybe a little afraid.
So blessed are we, the changed.

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I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them (Hosea 11:4, NIV).

…Sue…

loved