A Blessing on Your Days

I bless your days to wake with God's breath
and devotion to forge a path ahead.

I bless your face with a window on heaven,
and a hand reaching out to embrace.

I bless the companions around you
to share your sorrows with your joys,

to see the light hidden within you
and remind you of what is etched on your soul.

I bless you to remember what it is to learn
with the determination of a child at play,

with the imagination of a child in the trees,
picking fruit till the juice drips down.

I bless you to risk some hearty courage
and take up a project long shelved,

to clear the clutter and the cobwebs
with both hands courageous upheld.

I bless your spirit to receive the great promise,
that love will pursue you beyond the grave,

that there is a destiny for you on this day
right here, at this time, for this season

to be who only you can be,
to do what only you can do.

I bless you to live within this belonging
under the benediction of evening's first star

at rest with your place in the world
wearing your skin with brave honour.

I bless your nights to be softened
by the wings of many angels, circling.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Nikola Knezevik Unsplash

A Blessing for Hope

I bless you with a slate wiped completely clean
and a brand new box of coloured chalk, ready.

I bless you with the silver lining
of every cloud after the storm slows into rain.

I bless you with a breeze on stifling days
to swirl around your thoughts, lifted.

I bless your boat to be carried
by the broadest rivers of purpose.

I bless the dead bones long lying,
to resurrect with revolutionary dreams.

I bless the music latent in your body
to be expressed through your instrument of choice.

I bless your feet to feel grounded
and your wings to flex amply wide out.

I bless you to grieve all of your losses
on the swell and crest of each wave.

I bless your voice to have a place of belonging,
for you to turn the key and open the door.

I bless what is waiting around the corner
to give you a glimpse of fresh knowing.

I bless the wells of inspiration
to be drawn from in bountiful measure,

and the windows to be thrown open
for the light and air to get in,

for the folds and wrinkles to be soothed
and the past to never dictate the future,

for a lullaby and melody to rest upon
your curtain, and cross the threshold into sleep.

I bless your creative insights
and your stories to be told.

I bless you to believe in yourself,
even when others have lost faith.

I bless your failures to become your friends
and a perspective of truth, your great worth.

I bless you with a multiplication of promises
to be dear to you as treasure once lost, now found.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Leon Biss Unsplash

Psalm of the Night Watches

I observe the breathing of my heart
as I lie on my bed through the night watches.

In combination with the air you give,
I breathe also in other realms.

I am alive in every part of this marvellous body
you have created.

I take in every moment,
searching my heart in the silence.

What sacrifices do you desire?
It is these I offer up to you with both hands trusting.

When many voices all over the world
clamour for any amount of good,
it is the light of your face that will continue to flame.

It is a greater abundance that I will find
in my soul where you meet with me,
than in the wealth of many houses combined.

I am safe in this love and will tarry here.

My meditation becomes sleep.
My sleep becomes rest
as your dreams ripple across the face of the night.

Amen.

Jenneth Graser

This Old Body Can Still Have New Dreams

You have blessed me with your face unexpected.
Every dream I ever had pales in comparison.
This old body can still have new dreams.
Even the ones I put off, because of the voices that say no,
I am pulling out, taking a look and thinking
It's time.

The ocean pulls over the shore with benedictions
of ozone, salt-lavish froth over the toes.
Nature is always pointing me in the right direction.

When I feel as though I've come down to the last
bit of oil and the last bit of flour to bake my bread,
I'm sure you would like to remind me of a day
your Mother asked and even though it wasn't
quite the right time, it became the right time
for miracles.

I want to find myself born again full of wonder.
Everything that looks same old, same old
can become brand spanking new.
I can look at the waves the way
a child can about to jump in and be rollicked
into everything happy under the sun.

There are child-like parts that haven't heard a noise
from me, waiting to be called up into play.
And I'm willing, to be rebirthed.
I'm willing to embrace another facet of you.

Jenneth Graser

Connection

The prayer for this day is for connection.
To know how much you are loved
and to have no desire for riches.

To feel the pleasure of the skin you are in
and to not count your sins against yourself.

To hold no regret against others
and to live slowly in the beauty around you.

To let your loved ones love you
and to love them without strings attached.

To grow love like gardens
and share the flowers and herbs, vegetables and fruits.

To clear your home of unnecessary clutter
so that others may benefit from what you give away.

To take a risk to trust another soul
when your soul has grown tired of trusting.

To plan something new, that you have never done,
that is not unobtainable for you.

To lay down the plentiful distractions
and listen to the call of your heart

and to take a dancing step in the direction,
a small dancing step in the direction of a dream.

It is a simple thing to connect with God
with God who abides within.

Jenneth Graser

Photography - Joshua Earle - Unsplash

Open Up Our Dreams

What would it feel like
to run up a mountain and then
run back down again?

To tell about what it looks like from the top
and let others know, yes!
You can do it too.

To listen to the stories people
have to share
and pass on the wisdom we gain.

To put aside agendas
and imagine again what things could be like -
and live into those possibilities.

To wake up knowing
our feet can walk on water.

To know like a child knows,
that nothing is impossible.

We can open up our dreams,
and not give up for one moment.

We can accept only what is energised
through love
and see all lies lose capacity.

Only God can show us how
powerful we really are.
Only we can
believe it.

Jenneth Graser

#write31days
Day 31 Prompt - only

Photo credit unknown

The Remembrance of Paint

The pages have long been

At rest between folders in drawers.

The watercolours parched as the Mojave.

Brushes have gathered dust

In the shadow of curtains.

The heart of the artist, asleep.

Wake up, Dear One, to colour 

In the music of life around you.

The differentiation of tone in one leaf,

The feathers of that bird caught up in nectar.

Pay attention again to the longings.

Wake up, oh Sleeper,

Rise into the remembrance of paint.

Make all things new for your easel,

It is time to begin again.

Jenneth Graser

#write31days 

Prompt Day 2 - Paint

Artist credit - unknown

Dream Dancer

She has taken off the clothes
of borrowed dreams
and stepped into the wardrobe
of colour, texture, drop and line.

Gingerly, she reaches out
for gloves of new purpose
and dares to linger over
jewels, plentiful.

It is time to slip into
delicate intention,
to feel the fabric
fold onto her body warm.

She walks into a night
so close, heaven can be reached
by taking one deep breath.
Her eyes struggle to take
in beauty so extravagant.

She feels the rise
and fall of her garments
and begins to take the first
steps of dreamers dancing
under quilted nights of sequined stars.

She contemplates firework astronomy;
and makes for the road
of those who find their way.

She does not need to ask permission.

Jenneth Graser

Artwork - Christian Schloe