The turning of one year into the next is always a time of contemplation for me. I often imagine the past year as a dear friend and ask if there is anything it needs before stepping into the new. On the other hand I imagine the new horizon stretching out before me, asking it in turn if there is anything it needs from me to be AMAZING, BALANCED and FUN?
As I was asking this question today, there was a ping on my computer. I looked over to see an email from my lovely friend Lis who always sends me the most beautiful words at the most beautiful times.
Here is John O’Donahue’s invitation for endings and beginnings…
At the End of the Year
The particular mind of the ocean Filling the coastline’s longing With such brief harvest Of elegant, vanishing waves Is like the mind of time Opening us shapes of days.
As this year draws to its end, We give thanks for the gifts it brought And how they became inlaid within Where neither time nor tide can touch them.
The days when the veil lifted
And the soul could see delight; When a quiver caressed the heart In the sheer exuberance of being here.
Surprises that came awake In forgotten corners of old fields Where expectation seemed to have quenched.
The slow, brooding times When all was awkward And the wave in the mind Pierced every sore with salt.
The darkened days that stopped The confidence of the dawn.
Days when beloved faces shone brighter With light from beyond themselves; And from the granite of some secret sorrow A stream of buried tears loosened.
We bless this year for all we learned, For all we loved and lost And for the quiet way it brought us Nearer to our invisible destination.
~ John O’Donohue ~ (To Bless the Space Between Us)