Wednesday Whimsy-Edition 87
August 22, 2012 | My Jottings
I like blessings, especially Irish and Scottish blessings. You have probably read this old Irish blessing:
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
I think there is great power in blessing too. Our words are more powerful than we think, and certainly God’s words are alive with such power we have nothing to compare them with. Volcanoes, hurricanes and supernovas are weak and puny things compared with God’s power.
We’ve sort of lost the practice and art of blessing in our culture, don’t you think? When was the last time someone pronounced a very intentional blessing over you? When was the last time we pronounced a very intentional blessing over our children?
I received a blessing not long ago that I love, and will keep in my nightstand always. It starts out like a familiar blessing, then ends with a tiny wry twist of humor, which made me smile hugely.
This is an English blessing, from a very lovely English woman:
May your days be contented and life send you happiness,
treats, security and peace…
As well as all the usual things like personal holiness,
absolute truth, flawless integrity, perfect charity
and a Really Good Bra.
~Penelope Wilcock
* * * * * *
She hit the nail on the head for me, she really did. I need all of these things in the worst way.
The first blessing – lovely. The second contains some sort of secret message that really needs to be explained, Julie!
I think we too often use the phrase ‘God bless’ without really being intentional. I know I need to work on not being so trite at times.
(Ummm …. definitely no promises, but, could you recommend a beginner’s book/guide to blogging? I’m not the best at computer literacy so I would need a book to study in case I (might) start blogging. Just thinking about it ….)
🙂
The “secret message” isn’t so secret Kay! I think Ember remembers a blog post or two of mine that mentions that at the end of a stressful day I put on my saggy bra. My sturdy ones are just too hard on my neck sometimes. The phrase that made me giggle the most in her blessing, however, is “flawless integrity”…. I don’t know why it struck me so funny but it did. And I agree with you about saying God bless you. But in these past years when I say God bless you I am thinking in my mind, “God! Please BLESS them! In every way possible!” I am going to find something about beginning blogging to send to you, Kay. xxoo
It has no secret message I am just barmy and getting barmier. It’s not such a great leap from barmy to Balmer.
😉
P.S. I think the original idea came from one of Buzzfloyd’s poems (Buzzfloyd is my daughter), the second of the ones she posted on her blog in this entry:
http://buzzfloyd.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/villanelle-and-crochet-3-poems-and-may-crafts/
I enjoy her blog and think she should post more. Not that she has a lot of time on her hands. 🙂 And barmy to Balmer….hahahaha!