Casey Edwards · Voice With a Purpose
Open the two-page illustrated blessing · Free PDF
The Blessing
May you have time to stand at the edge
of what is changing
and let your eyes grow used to the view.
There may be things you are glad to leave,
and things you will miss
even though you cannot stay.
May you have room to tell the truth about both.
If your hand rests on the latch a little longer,
may no one hurry it.
You have lived enough to know
that opening matters.
May you carry something familiar:
a song you know by heart,
the number of someone who listens,
a small, stubborn pleasure
you have no intention of giving up.
And when you are ready,
may there be one thing you can do with today—
a question asked,
a page begun,
your name written beneath something you want.
May you be allowed the awkwardness of learning.
May a mistake remain small enough to mend.
May you find people who can welcome you
before you have learned how to introduce
the person you are becoming.
If the first path bends somewhere you cannot follow,
may you have the freedom to change your mind.
You can be sincere about a beginning
and still discover that you need another way.
Tonight, may there be something ordinary waiting:
a meal, a familiar cup,
a place to set down the day.
Let your life have those kindnesses
while its larger shape is still uncertain.
And somewhere along the way,
may you catch yourself looking forward
to a morning you once could not imagine.
Take This With You
A small beginning is still a beginning.