The Year as a House: A Blessing
Think of the year
as a house:
door flung wide
in welcome,
threshold swept
and waiting,
a graced spaciousness
opening and offering itself
to you.
Let it be blessed
in every room.
Let it be hallowed
in every corner.
Let every nook
be a refuge
and every object
set to holy use.
Let it be here
that safety will rest.
Let it be here
that health will make its home.
Let it be here
that peace will show its face.
Let it be here
that love will find its way.
Here
let the weary come
let the aching come
let the lost come
let the sorrowing come.
Here
let them find their rest
and let them find their soothing
and let them find their place
and let them find their delight.
And may it be
in this house of a year
that the seasons will spin in beauty,
and may it be
in these turning days
that time will spiral with joy.
And may it be
that its rooms will fill
with ordinary grace
and light spill from every window
to welcome the stranger home.
—Jan Richardson
LIGHT
Daily Devotional
Cultivate the light within you each day this week.
January 6: Claim Your Light and Shine
- Scripture: John 12:36– Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.
- Meditation: We so often doubt our own worth, our own value. We shrug off compliments. We explain away people’s observations of our gifts and strengths, even when their reflections affirm that we have much to contribute to the world, simply with our presence.
Yet God chooses us, and offers a love that sees how we are enough, and more than enough, just as we are. Yes, we can always change and transform and become more, or different. And that’s often what we think is required to earn self-worth, cultivate self-esteem, or to deserve other people’s respect and affection.
Yet Holy Love isn’t something we can earn by being good enough, perfect enough, or productive enough. It comes to us, freely given, and accepting us for the people we are today. And loving the people we are right now, today. - Spiritual Discipline: Today claim your light. Acknowledge 3 things that are unique gifts that you shine into the world. Put them on sticky note and place them in a mirror, and look at yourself frame with notes about your special gifts. Allow yourself to apprecitae what makes you special. “Say to yourself, looking in the mirror, I am a child of light.”
SONGS:
- Be a Light by Thomas Rhett ft. Keith Urban, Chris Tomlin, Hillary Scott & Reba McEntire: https://youtu.be/fkBtrPWSKM8?si=UZXA3ZQJm035JO0Q
The Light That Comes
— Jan Richardson
I cannot tell you
how the light comes.
What I know
is that it is more ancient
than imagining.
That it travels
across an astounding expanse
to reach us.
That it loves
searching out
what is hidden
what is lost
what is forgotten
or in peril
or in pain.
That it has a fondness
for the body
for finding its way
toward flesh
for tracing the edges
of form
for shining forth
through the eye,
the hand,
the heart.
I cannot tell you
how the light comes,
but that it does.
That it will.
That it works its way
into the deepest dark
that enfolds you,
though it may seem
long ages in coming
or arrive in a shape
you did not foresee.
And so
may we this day
turn ourselves toward it.
May we lift our faces
to let it find us.
May we bend our bodies
to follow the arc it makes.
May we open
and open more
and open still
to the blessed light
that comes.