I am drawn to the simplicity of this “Christmas Prayer” by Robert Louis Stevenson. Our world is in need of the center line of the prayer which is, “Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.” Read and pray this prayer slowly. Let it get into your bones and your soul.
A CHRISTMAS PRAYER
Loving Father, help us to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men.
Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from the evil by the blessing which Christ brings and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy to be Thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen!
The dance of this blessing by John O’Donohue captured me. I have read it over and over again like a person dying of thirst in a hot desert. It is simple yet deep. True yet elusive. Hopeful yet hard.
Conflict visits all of us like that annoying relative that shows up unannounced at the worst possible time. When we experience conflict, tension or misunderstandings with someone we love or simply know, the weight of the tension rests on our chest like wet blanket smothering the fire within. If the devastated relational-road seems impassable, it sucks a large percentage of our brain space, depleting our emotions and disrupting every life rhythm we have.
When no one is willing to move towards love what do you do?
When both sides cling to their truth what beauty can come of it?
When positions are entrenched like rebar in concrete what devastation will inevitably come?
This blessing offers a hard yet possible path back to love.
When the gentleness between you hardens And you fall out of your belonging with each other, May the depths you have reached hold you still.
When no true word can be said, or heard, And you mirror each other in the script of hurt, When even the silence has become raw and torn, May you hear again an echo of your first music.
When the weave of affection starts to unravel And anger begins to sear the ground between you, Before this weather of grief invites The black seed of bitterness to find root, May your souls come to kiss.
Now is the time for one of you to be gracious, To allow a kindness beyond thought and hurt, Reach out with sure hands To take the chalice of your love, And carry it carefully through this echoless was Until this winter pilgrimage leads you Toward the gateway to spring.
Longing is a powerful word. As I speak it in my mind I feel a stir in my heart. It’s akin to “I want” or “I desire” but in a much more wistful way. In some sense there is a longing for something lost as well as something hoped for and even something that is beyond reach. This creates the sensation and the tension.
I have found that longings and desires have a better chance of manifesting if I live into my longings from a position of trust, gratitude and blessing.
Living a life centered on blessing others and blessing the spaces you find yourself in is a gateway into a beautiful life where longing and desire don’t rule you, but are intimate friends along the journey. They know you by name and love you as you are.
This morning as I pull aside and was meditating, my focus was on the following ‘Blessing for Longing’ by John O’Donohue found in his book, “To bless the space between us.” I love the last line “May you know the urgency with which God longs for you.” So,
