January 2023: Something To Be Thankful For

As we hover still between the year passed and the new one opening before us, I turned to treasured and familiar stories and poems I have kept over time.  In re-reading them, I often find wisdom which escaped me until I was ready to receive it.

For some, our old SouthWest United is a place of hovering while we await the spirit’s comforting welcome into our new home.  I found some comfort in the following words from John O’Donohue.  I hope the sharing will be of comfort to you too.

At The End Of The Year

— A Blessing by John O’Donohue

As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them.

The days when the veil lifted
And the soul could see delight;
When a quiver caressed the heart
In the sheer exuberance of being here.

Surprises that came awake
In forgotten corners of old fields
Where expectation seemed to have quenched.

The slow, brooding times
When all was awkward
And the wave in the mind
Pierced every sore with salt.

The darkened days that stopped
The confidence of the dawn.

Days when beloved faces shone brighter
With light from beyond themselves;
And from the granite of some secret sorrow
A stream of buried tears loosened.

We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost 
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination

John O'Donohue (1 January 1956 – 4 January 2008) was an Irish poet, author, priest, and Hegelian philosopher.

I hope you will join us at our new destination on January 8th, 11:30 a.m.

In peace

Pastor Beryl, DLM