A blessing for the ending of the year

Today on this final day of 2020, I share a simple blessing for the ending of the year. There is much value in reflecting on a year, of closing out one chapter to begin another. Last week, I wrote about Reflecting on 2020, a year of change. And a year ago, I wrote But first, a toast to 2019.

And yet, there are times when words seem not enough, thoughts scattered, intentions still developing. And in this space of transition, I need a sense of closure.

And I found a blessing

We are not the first to leave behind a challenging year. And so, we can turn to others who have found words in similar times.

John O’Donohue, a writer who lived in Ireland and frequently traveled to the United States to give lectures and conduct workshops, wrote many blessings. This blessing for the ending of the year, is recorded in his book, “To Bless the Space Between Us.”

A blessing for the end of the year

At the end of the year

The particular mind of the ocean
Filling the coastline's longing
With such brief harvest
Of elegant, vanishing waves
Is like the mind of time
Opening us shapes of days.

As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them.

The days when the veil lifted
And the soul could see delight;
When a quiver caressed the heart
In the sheer exuberance of being here.

Surprises that came awake 
In forgotten corners of old fields
Where expectation seemed to have quenched.

The slow, brooding times
When all was awkward
And the wave in the mind
Pierced every sore with salt.

The darkened days that stopped 
The confidence of the dawn.

Days when beloved faces shone brighter
With light from beyond themselves;
And from the granite of some secret sorrow
A stream of buried tears loosened.

We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.

By John O'Donohue, "To Bless the Space Between Us"

Thank you for spending time with me this year! Let’s step together into 2021, with optimism, faith and the deep knowledge that God will indeed be there with us.