JOHN SOKOLOFF - Kroshka Walz
To Bless the Space Between Us By John O'Donohue
There is a quiet light that shines in every heart.
It draws no attention to itself,though it is always
secretly there.
It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty,
our desire to seek possibility,and our hearts
to love life.Without this subtle quickening our
days would be empty and wearisome,and no horizon
would ever awaken our longing.
Our passion for life is quietly sustained from
somewhere in us that is welded to the energy and
excitement of life. This shy inner light is what
enables us to recognize and receive our very presence
here as blessing.
We enter the world as strangers who all at once
become heirs to a harvest of memory,spirit,and
dream that haslong preceded us and will now enfold,
nourish, and sustain us.
The gift of the world is our first blessing.
The opening paragraph of the book
"To Bless the Space Between Us:
A Book of Blessings"
John O'Donohue
May you
By John O'Donohue
May you listen to your longing to be free.
May the frames of your belonging be large enough
for the dreams of your soul.
May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering
in your heart ...something good is going to happen to you.
May you find harmony between your soul and your life.
May the mansion of your soul never become a haunted place.
May you know the eternal longing that lies at the heart of time.
May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within.
May you never place walls between the light and yourself.
May you be set free from the prisons of guilt, fear,
disappointment and despair.
May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world
to gather you, mind you, and embrace you in belonging.
For Light
By John O'Donohue
Light cannot see inside things.
That is what the dark is for:
Minding the interior,
Nurturing the draw of growth
Through places where death
In its own way turns into life.
In the glare of neon times,
Let our eyes not be worn
By surfaces that shine
With hunger made attractive.
That our thoughts may be true light,
When we become false and lost
Finding their way into words
Which have the weight of shadow
To hold the layers of truth.
That we never place our trust
In minds claimed by empty light,
Where one-sided certainties
Are driven by false desire.
When we look into the heart,
May our eyes have the kindness
And reverence of candlelight.
That the searching of our minds
Be equal to the oblique
Crevices and corners where
The mystery continues to dwell,
Glimmering in fugitive light.
When we are confined inside
The dark house of suffering
That moonlight might find a window.
That the severe noon-light
Would cast our shadow clear.
When we love, that dawn-light
Would lighten our feet
Upon the waters.
As we grow old, that twilight
Would illuminate treasure
In the fields of memory.
And when we come to search for God,
Let us first be robed in night,
Put on the mind of morning
To feel the rush of light
Spread slowly inside
The color and stillness
Of a found word.