A blessing is defined as the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or one's hope or approval. Blessing someone is not limited to Bible times or biblical characters. It is happening all around us.
In Hinduism, a guest at the table is blessed as the host cup their down-tuned hands over a candle flame and then raise their palms to their foreheads. This symbolizes the blessing being given and received from each other's company.
Observant Jews are instructed to say 100 blessings a day.
The Talmud states “It is forbidden to taste the pleasures
of this world without a blessing.”
In Hawaii anything new (a new building, a new stretch of road to be opened, a new garden) receives a specific blessing by a Hawaiian practitioner
Young couples often choose an old Irish blessing for their wedding. May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back.....
Barbara Brown Taylor, in her book An Altar in the World, encourages us to be more open to bestowing blessings.
She writes that our blessings do not confer holiness. The holiness is already there. Pronouncing a blessing is our acknowledgement of the extraordinary, the movement of God. And the key to blessing people and things is knowing they beat you to it. You have to realize how much you have already been blessed.
Barbara Brown Taylor, in her book An Altar in the World, encourages us to be more open to bestowing blessings.
She writes that our blessings do not confer holiness. The holiness is already there. Pronouncing a blessing is our acknowledgement of the extraordinary, the movement of God. And the key to blessing people and things is knowing they beat you to it. You have to realize how much you have already been blessed.
She writes "All I am saying is that anyone can do this. Anyone can ask and anyone can bless, whether anyone has authorized you to do it or not. All I am saying is that the world needs you to do this, because there is a real shortage of people willing to kneel whenver they are and recognize the holiness holding its sometimes bony, often tender always life-giving hand above their heads. That we are able to bless on another at all is evidence that we have been blessed, whether we can remember when or not. That we are willing to bless one another is miracle enough to stagger the very stars. "
Her words inspired me. I felt the urge to raise my hands over something. To speak words of promise. To acknowledge the extraordinary and to recognize how I have been blessed. I want to say more blessings - to my family, to my front door, to the little spring flowers peaking up too early in the yard...
I remembered Taylor's words as I thought about what to say at the beginning of our last team meeting of 2012. I remembered Jacob's words to the angel in Genesis. "I will not let you go until you bless me."
We ended the year with this blessing.
May this table continue to be a place of sharing, commradary and friendship.
May the lives you have been a part of this year give you
wisdom and satisfaction.
May the gentleness and compassion you have show, be given
back to you again and again.
May the warmth you have brought to others , now warm you on
cold days.
May there be moments of rest where your heart and soul find
replenishing peace and quiet.
May there be moments of noise – laughter, energy and
adventure.
May you never lose your curiosity, your sense of purpose,
your calling.
May you continue to see beauty in the faces of your patients.
May you be filled with joy.
May it be so…
