SOURCE OF ALL BLESSINGS,
you bless us with falling stars,
as we look up into the glittering
vault of the sky on a mid-August
night and see the awesome cosmic
light show that has been going on
for eons before there were eyes to
watch it and will be going on when
no audience remains. When that
unpredictable flash happens, may I
make a wish that matters.
Sense how it feels to honor the perpetual gift of stars that are visible, invisible, seemingly steady, falling, and otherwise. When we allow ourselves to experience the awe evoked by such a wondrous display, and thus connect with the subtle and grand movements that fuel stars and people alike, we cultivate perspective and peace.
“May this patchwork quilt of blessings help to sharpen your taste for the gift of life in its innumerable facets,” Br. David writes. “May you grow ever more blessed, ever more able to bless.”
Should you be inspired, please leave a reflection below…
Enjoy the full eight-day Summer Blessings I practice series.
Looking at the stars reminds me of coming from them and returning to them.
I want to make a wish that matters because my heart is clear, and I know what matters, and be worthy of it.
Thank you for this, another beautiful Blessing.
I am blessed to live in a place where dark skies are cherished. Sometimes, in the wee hours when I cannot sleep, I stand in my darkened living room and look out at the woods behind my flat and the skies above. Sometimes they are bright with moon and starlight and sometimes filled with low cloud – when this is so, I remind myself that the light is still there, behind those clouds. Just as the light is always present and shines within me – within us all -even when we lose touch with it. It is always there, inviting us to reconnect.
This morning I am grateful to wake up on a visit to my son and his family in Southern California, where we look at planets and the moon through a telescope in the backyard. Last week, while I accompanied my oldest granddaughter to a special camp back east, there rest of her family camped out to get a wonderful view of the Perseids. Granddaughter and I ended our travels with a visit to Buhl Planetarium in Pittsburgh, and also visits to a constellation of relatives she’d never met, and whom I hadn’t seen in more than 50 years. Awareness of all this “stellar” gratitude is particularly timely today, as it is the anniversary of the Great American Eclipse of 2017, which we enjoyed at my mother’s home in Rigby, Idaho.
On our yearly summer family vacations to northern Minnesota, we would take the boat out at night to the middle of the lake and turn off the motor and the lights and marvel at the dazzling stars! It was mesmerizing and brought such a peace and gratitude for all creation!
May you grow ever more blessed , ever more able to bless.
yes…as soon as I read this I was immediately transported to memories of beautiful skies, which led to thoughts of sunsets, sunrises and meteor showers. one evening when the moon was so bright i drove with my headlights off! What an exhilarating feeling that was! I think there is so much healing in nature….so much letting go, so much awe at the magnificent beauty of the universe. I have always loved the Rumi quote, “You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop. Something to think about when you look up at the stars. I came across a mantra I used in my yoga class last night that translated to: God is your breath, your breath is god…i can feel all this thinking in my breath and in my cells…I am so grateful to live in a less densely populated area where I am able to see many interesting things in the night sky….and finally this has been the most amazing summer of clouds and beautiful colors in the evening skies, it has been mind blowing, I have had to pull over and just look. God Bless the universe for all of the beauty it shares with us, those before us and those after us. This is a life worth living!
I miss seeing the stars. In the place I live, there is instruction to leave our front and back outside lights on, presumably for safety. But there is no thought to the effects on the creatures and growth patterns that need the dark. Don’t we all need the dark? The night sky? I hold the night sky in memory, though, from my childhood, and do know that the stars are there, beyond my sight, with their mystery and promise.
I hope your personal camino takes you to some places where the night sky is dark except for the far away lights, Pilgrim, sometime soon.
Thank you and bless you, Karen!