Blessing

 

Holding the Light by Stuart Kestenbaum 

Gather up whatever is 
glittering in the gutter,
whatever has tumbled 
in the waves or fallen 
in flames out of the sky,
for it’s not only our
hearts that are broken, 
but the heart
of the world as well.
Stitch it back together. 
Make a place where
the day speaks to the night
and the earth speaks to the sky.
Whether we created God
or God created us
it all comes down to this:
In our imperfect world
we are meant to repair
and stitch together 
what beauty there is, stitch it 
with compassion and wire. 
See how everything 
we have made gathers 
the light inside itself
and overflows? A blessing.
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I cannot imagine a poem which better reflects my Advent sentiments this year and this day. With 6 days until Christmas I am caught up in what has been one of the darkest times and one of the most pregnant of times, pregnant with hope.

Like Mary I have been visited by an angel, well actually many angels, some in the form of strangers entertained! It has been a time of a cautious yes to change and shift. It has been a time of anxious opening encouraged by just enough radiance to continue.

“stitch it with compassion and wire” might just be my Advent mantra. Certainly compassion has been increasingly valued and deepened in contemplation.

But what is this “wire” of which the poet speaks? Perhaps it is the thinnest of tethers to some invisible eternal Spirit which simply will not let go. Perhaps we are “stitched” as much as we “stitch”.

When those bright morning stars rise and when the moonlight glistens on the snow covered field, darkness is beautiful, enlightened by those threads of stardust as though “day is speaking to night” and saying: Stay and stitch with me, we are weaving grace. Nothing else matters right now!

My hope right now is kindled by this tapestry of lights; eternity is illuminated and all is calm and bright. This is the blessing of woven grace.

(special thanks to Bob Anderson for sharing the poem0