Blessing of Hope

Blessing of Hope

So may we know
the hope
that is not just
for someday
but for this day –
here, now
in this moment
that opens to us:

hope not made
of wishes
but of substance,

hope made of sinew
and muscle
and bone,

hope that has breath
and a beating heart,

hope that will not
keep quiet
and be polite,

hope that know
how to holler
when it is called for,

hope that knows
how to sing
when there seems
little cause,

hope that raises us
from the dead –

not someday
but this day,
every day,
again and
again and
again.

– Jan Richardson –
The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief

I received this poem from a dear friend a week ago, her gift to me in return for the words of Wendell Berry I’d sent in my Winter Solstice greeting. I’d been thinking of the right piece to post today for the coming of a new year. This feels right. To think of hope that is of substance – singing, hollering, impolite. Raising us from the dead, again and again.

May we step into this new year with such hope as our companion.

Much love and kindest regards, dear friends. And thank you for being so.