Blessing

There are times in our lives when we are aware of new beginnings more than others.  In truth each day is full of new beginnings.  We open our eyes in the morning, become aware of our surroundings, stretch our limbs and anticipate the new day ahead.  Some mornings we feel like life will forever be exactly what it is today.  We may want to cling to that reality or we may feel very discouraged by it.  Either way, what I know to be true, is that with each breath comes the passing of time.  With each breath comes the dawn of something new. 

"We seem to think that beginning is setting out from a lonely point along some line of direction into the unknown.  This is not the case.  Shelter and energy come alive when a beginning is embraced.  Goethe says that once the commitment is made, destiny conspires with us to support and realize it.  We are never as alone in our beginnings as it might seem at the time.  A beginning is ultimately an invitation to open toward the gifts and growth that are stored up for us.  To refuse to begin can be an act of great self-neglect."     John O'Donohue

September is a time when the weather begins to change, people go back to school and schedules are required again.  How is it on this day you can embrace the blessings that await you?  How can we each see today as an invitation? 

A Morning Offering- John O'Donohue

I bless the night that nourished my heart
To set the ghosts of longing free
Into the flow and figure of dream
That went to harvest from the dark
Bread for the hunger no one sees.

All that is eternal in me
Welcomes the wonder for this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.

I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.

May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed,.

May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.