When was the last time you blessed someone? Or someone blessed you? It is important, I think, to rediscover our power to bless each other.
To bless someone is to affirm them, to say good things about them. To say “yes” to who they are and wish them well. We can bless someone with our words, our writing, our touch , and our acts of kindness however small. We can bless the people we know-our family members, friends and co-workers, or even total strangers.
Blessing someone can have a huge impact. This past Monday night, along with 9 million other viewers, I watched as Brian William of NBC National News reported on at project at the Dixie Bee Elementary School in Terra Haute, Indiana. While participating in SPPRAK (a local non-profit program called Special People Performing Random Acts of Kindness) , students and staff at Dixie Bee used hundreds of spirit boosting sticky notes to bless others. On a large banner in the hallway they placed sticky notes of praise and goodness they had witnessed or experienced, like lunch being shared, doors being held open, or even shoes being tied.
Such random acts of kindness are taking place all over the country. First Graders at Greenville Elementary School in Nokesville, Virginia, participated in 100 Acts of Kindness. Operation Beautiful uses anonymous post-it notes in public places to help cultivate positive body images especially for teenage girls. Through programs such as these, people are rediscovering the power of blessing. People are making a difference in small ways that encourage others and help them to know they are not alone.
We all need to be encouraged. We all need to feel connected. We all need to bless and be blessed.
With Mother’s Day approaching, I would like to share a beautiful blessing for mothers recently written by Joyce Rupp, one of my favorite authors and someone I’ve long considered a life mentor. I hope her blessing encourages you as it did me. May it remind you, as it did me, to honor past choices good and bad, to stay connected with others and God, and to be compassionate with self. Thank you, Joyce, for permission to share this blessing. (to receive Joyce’s free monthly online newsletter contact ruppjoyce@gmail.com).
A Blessing for Mothers of All Sorts, Sizes and Shapes of Body, Mind and Spirit
- O mothers, one and all, some of you have carried your children in your womb. Others of you have welcomed babes in need of your attention who came to you from another birth mother. May the love you’ve extended return to you a hundredfold.
- O mothers, do not live in regret of what you wished you would have done, or what you did do and wished you had not. As you look back on your mothering, may you remember that you tried to do your best.
- O mothers, those of you for whom much of your life with your children is before you, do not imagine you can do this alone. Remember it takes a lot of leaning on the Divine Mother whose heart enfolds every mother and child. May you draw strength daily from her kindly presence.
- O mothers, do not forget to care for yourself. Find what enriches and enlivens your deepest self. May you have the vitality it takes to generously give of yourself daily.
- O mothers, you who have gone on to another sphere of life. We bring you to mind and heart today. May the peace you now have seep into the weary and troubled places of mothers’ hearts everywhere.
Challenge: Can you think of at least one person you can bless today? How will you bless this person?