Friday 6 Jan. 2023

A New year/epiphany blessing

Diane harvey

As the new year begins and we approach Epiphany, I find myself turning to a blessing written by author and artist, Jan Richardson. I re-read it every year because, for me, it is an invitation to be braver and bolder in my journey of faith, especially when it comes to living in the midst of all that is unknown. I am someone who thrives on order and being in control; this blessing reminds me that God is often best experienced in the unexpected and the unwanted. And despite the title of the blessing, we don’t ever have to leave our house, let alone our country, to find blessing on our journey of discovery. Happy travels, dear friends, and may you delight in the wonders you will find along the way.

For Those Who Have Far to Travel
If you could see the journey whole
you might never undertake it;
might never dare the first step that propels you
from the place you have known
toward the place you know not.

Call it one of the mercies of the road:
that we see it only by stages
as it opens before us,
as it comes into our keeping
step by single step.

There is nothing for it
but to go and by our going
take the vows the pilgrim takes:

to be faithful to the next step;
to rely on more than the map;
to heed the signposts of intuition and dream;
to follow the star that only you
will recognize;

to keep an open eye
for the wonders that attend the path;
to press on
beyond distractions, beyond fatigue
beyond what would tempt you from the way.

There are vows that only you will know;
the secret promises for your particular path
and the new ones you will need to make
when the road is revealed by turns
you could not have foreseen.

Keep them, break them, make them again:
each promise becomes part of the path;
each choice creates the road that will take you
to the place where at last you will kneel

to offer the gift most needed—
the gift that only you can give—
before turning to go home by another way.