Hope – for a new beginning…

hope-for-a-new-beginning

Hope for a new beginning?

Are you serious!

In the world at large, this seems a far distant prospect – whichever way you look at it.

So perhaps that makes the choice much clearer.

We can wait and think positive thoughts. And wait… But if we’re looking externally, then the wait might be quite long.

For whatever it is we are longing for.

Instead, we can choose to shift our gaze much closer to home.

What is our new beginning? What is inviting us to step forward and become the change we want to see?

It starts here. With me. And you.

So, as incongruent as it might seem, I want to celebrate my hope for a new beginning. Today.

In part, it’s because this week has involved quite a lot of upheaval. I’ve had to let go of things that I thought were part of my future. Or at least particular expressions of it.

But the upheaval is rarely just about letting go. It’s also about creating the capacity to pick up, to sow and pursue other things that I wouldn’t have had the time for.

So I have hope, for a new beginning that will be fruitful.

Blessing – For a New Beginning

The other reason I wanted to re-share John O’Donohue’s blessing – For a New Beginning – is because today I am reading it at a wedding.

This is a rather precious occasion. My sister-in-law is getting married. Over eight years after my brother died, she is stepping into her new beginning. And I’m thrilled.

Sometimes we can’t see that new beginnings could ever happen. They simply aren’t on the agenda. They may not even be wanted.

And then… Just at the right time, something amazing emerges. It’s been waiting. Growing like a seed, buried deep, until we are ready.

For a New Beginning

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wonder,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life‘s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

John O’Donohue, ‘Benedictus – a Book of Blessings’, Bantam Press 2007

Take a stroll. See what you notice. And be open to wonder…

Thanks for reading

Sue

This week

Whilst we are affected by the uncertainty without – however that is expressed – we can still pause, breathe deeply and smile. And find hope for a new beginning. Because it is there.