A Blessing for the Life You Have

Blessed are you who hold hope with an open hand.

You who try not to fix your gaze on time’s far horizon or get drunk on what might yet be. And blessed are you who avoid walking too far down memory lane, getting stuck wondering if that was as good as it gets, if you’ve peaked, or feeling resentful about all that has disappointed before.

Blessed are you who know that sometimes you need to stay right here. At least for a minute. Blessed are you who look wide-eyed, maybe timidly, at the present moment, gazing at those things that are gently, actually within the reach of your fingertips.

Blessed are you amid the ordinary details that define what life is for you, right now. And as you see them, greet them—each one—as you smile and call them by name. Everyday joys. Small pleasures. Birds chirping. Cat cuddles. A cold glass of water. A little child calling your name. The breeze on your cheeks. The ocean rhythm. The perfect pillow. The kindness of a friend. Loves that are and were and ever will be.

May they seem even lovelier, even more delicious because they become gifts offered anew. May gratitude fill you, reaching all the spaces within you that disappointment left behind and fear has gripped. May something rise in your heart that feels like a strange new kind of contentment.

Because this isn’t what you had planned, but it surprises you that even here it can be good. Satisfying. In a way that you know you can come back to. A place that can sustain you through whatever may come.

Blessed are you, finding that life is good because it is enough.

~Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie, Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection, pp. 65-66.