Aching for blessing

 Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent

May you be blessed by the Lord
the maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 115:15

It is suddenly dark. Of course, it is the shortest day of the year, and I knew this was coming, but I forgot. The conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn also escaped my mind, but as it was overcast I’m not sure I could have seen it. I will try again tomorrow. It won’t be as close, but still…

Today my soul is caught in the in-between. Preparing joyful rituals to put out into the world, and aching for those that cannot be celebrated this year. And behind that ache is a deeper knowledge that so much has changed and will not be the same again.

I wonder what the faithful thought 800 years ago as they noticed the miraculous in the night sky. Perhaps they thought God was doing a new thing in the heavens. Perhaps they thought it signaled a change. Perhaps they saw it as a blessing.

And I wonder what blessing the Creator of all things—of heaven, of earth, of each one of us, of each squirrel and evergreen and star—is about to pour upon us.

Image copyright ©Wendy Denn