Blessings. . .

come in so many ways and yet often we forget to give thanks for them. Rather than counting our blessings we complain about what we don't have. I  know I have to remind myself now and then of how richly I am endowed with the many blessings in my life.


Blessings of sight so I can appreciate the beauty of a rose, a smile, a magnificent sunset, Te Aroha Mountain as the sun rises over it's tree clad slopes or watch my beloved family as we share time together.


Blessings of hearing so I can appreciate my favourite music, hearing the dawn chorus every morning, a child's laughter or the rousing cheers and applause as a couple seal their marriage vows with a kiss after I pronounce them Husband and Wife.


Blessings of having a voice - of being able to communicate verbally is certainly a major blessing for me but others may well like to debate that one! To be able to sing and read aloud to my children when they were young; to speak words of love and comfort to those I care for the most; to use the voice well is obviously an essential tool for a celebrant as well as being able to express opinions and speak my truth, all this means everything to me. As it would to everyone else I am sure.


I have so many blessings in my life and it's those seemingly small, everyday ones that mean so much, like waking up each morning, a smile from a stranger, the affirming feedback on a ceremony I've taken or an unexpected phone call from one of my family just to say "Hi Mum, how are you?"


Good Friday seems an appropriate day to reflect on my many blessings and I give thanks for each and every one. Life is fragile. It is transient and all we can be certain of is the present moment. 


Life brings joy and sorrow, it brings achievements and heartbreak but it also brings us choices in how we react to what life presents us with. Albert Camus, the French writer and playwright who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, wrote 'Blessed are the hearts that can bend, they shall never be broken.'  


When my husband died nearly eighteen years ago I was sure my heart would break but in time I realised that although my life felt as though it had shattered into tiny pieces, that I had been ripped in two and that my heart would surely break,  life had to go on and so did I. And I have.


So today I give thanks for the blessings of having a heart that has been able to bend; that I am constantly learning to 'let-go,' to 'enjoy the moment,' and that I have a choice in how I adapt to life's challenges and opportunities. Today I celebrate my blessings and give thanks for the life I am given to live wherever it may lead me day to day. Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi Abraham Heschel,  expresses it more far simply yet so beautifully . . . 

'Just to be is a blessing. 

Just to live is holy.' 

Another day dawns