A Morning Blessing

Morning Blessing

I arise

and the song plays in my mind,

a song I taught the children

so many years ago:

“Thank you, Lord,

for giving me life;

thank you, Lord

for family and friends;

thank you, Lord,

for walking with me

through the years

‘til my journey ends.”

Every morning

it is sung within

as I brush my teeth,

as I greet the new day,

and savor the freshness,

rising from a tomb

where my darkness is buried

once again, with my Lord,

for He has promised

that He will.

never.

lose.

me.

Wrap me in your mantle,

my Protector,

my Healer,

my Justification,

my Redeemer.

Restore to me

what I keep losing;

look with mercy

    on my wretched weakness,

and let Your joy

    do its work in my soul,

undoing the knotted distress,

   still so alive in me still

     and still.

Still me,

O God:

show me, I beg,

   how it will end,

and how the end of me

   will glisten with newly shed tears

on this morning

   which offers

      so much delightful promise.

Can we pause right here,

and stay

all day,

and not have to engage the battle

for a time?

Weary soldiers

need their rest,

   You know,

even in the brightness

   when the field grows silent,

and wounds are salved

   and wrapped,

and songs of hope

   are hummed anew.

04.21.2021

The Feast of Saint Anselm