Feeling like the world needs some blessings right now–or perhaps it’s just me–this is the second in a series of blessings for the (extra)ordinary days in which we find ourselves.
[Is this your experience, too: conversations, events, and days melding into a congealed, homogenous lump, indistinguishable from one another? Within covid-time, memories blur and the meaning of “time” has unexpectedly shifted. Some days, it can feel like Groundhog Day, ten months in a row.]
First, may you be blessed with courage
to slip out of the shadow of shame:
of forgetting that birthday/appointment/meeting/really important thing
of realizing, days later, that you never followed up
of discovering, weeks later (if you ever think of it again at all),
that you never sent that thank you note
(the one you really meant to send)
The indistinguishable moments, one after the other,
distracted you, exhausted you,
leaving you utterly perplexed.
Courage, though, and laughter will be your escape hatch
ejecting you safely into surrender.
And then, may you be blessed with grace,
for remembering even one out of ten
birthdays, appointments, meetings, really important things,
thank yous,
is a momentous feat to be celebrated.
Luke 17:11-19 (NRSV)
11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”