Image: Shimmers Within the Storm © Jan Richardson
Reading from the Gospels, Epiphany 4, Year B: Mark 1.21-28
In his brilliant essay “To Retrieve the Lost Art of Blessing,” John O’Donohue writes, “The force of a blessing can penetrate through and alter the inner configuration of identity. When the gift or need of the individual coincides with the incoming force of the blessing, great change can begin.”
This kind of change and reconfiguration means that a blessing is not always a comfortable and cozy thing. Sometimes the blessing most needed is one that involves confrontation and calling out, that requires standing against what is not of God. Such a blessing may be difficult to give—or to receive. It calls us to acknowledge and challenge and grapple with forces that thrive within chaos, forces that often work in ways that are exceedingly subtle and cloaked and require even more wisdom and discernment of us than when such forces take clear and obvious forms.
But, as Jesus shows us in this passage where we see him healing a man in the grip of a destructive spirit, such a blessing—the blessing that comes in facing the chaos rather than turning away from it, the blessing that comes in naming what is contrary to God’s purposes rather than letting it persist unchecked—makes way for the wholeness we crave. It brings release to what has been bound; it invites and enables and calls us to move with the freedom for which God made us.
“The human heart,” writes John O’Donohue in his essay, “continues to dream of a state of wholeness, a place where everything comes together, where loss will be made good, where blindness will transform into vision, where damage will be made whole, where the clenched question will open in the house of surprise, where the travails of a life’s journey will enjoy a homecoming. To invoke a blessing is to call some of that wholeness upon a person now.”
Is there some part of you that has become bound—that recognizes what is holy and craves its blessing, but fears the change that would be involved? Is there a habit, a belief, a relationship, an aspect of your life that has you in its grip, that confines you, that limits the freedom with which you move through this world—perhaps without your even realizing it? Can you imagine what release would look like? Is there a destructive force at work in a person or system or institution you’re connected with, that you might be called to engage? Can you identify a first step that would help you confront what confines you or those around you?
Here is a blessing I’ve written for you. This day, this week, may you give and receive a blessing that will help you and yours enter more deeply into wholeness. Peace to you.
Blessing in the Chaos
To all that is chaotic
in you,
let there come silence.
Let there be
a calming
of the clamoring,
a stilling
of the voices that
have laid their claim
on you,
that have made their
home in you,
that go with you
even to the
holy places
but will not
let you rest,
will not let you
hear your life
with wholeness
or feel the grace
that fashioned you.
Let what distracts you
cease.
Let what divides you
cease.
Let there come an end
to what diminishes
and demeans,
and let depart
all that keeps you
in its cage.
Let there be
an opening
into the quiet
that lies beneath
the chaos,
where you find
the peace
you did not think
possible
and see what shimmers
within the storm.
—Jan Richardson
Thanks for noting that while “Blessing in the Chaos” has circulated widely as being by John O’Donohue (due to some folks seeing his name in the post and assuming the blessing was by him), it’s by me.
2016 update: “Blessing in the Chaos” appears in my new book The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief.
For a previous reflection on this passage, click the image or title below:
Epiphany 4: In the Realm of the Spirits
Also, I have a new blog endeavor at Devotion Café and would be delighted for you to stop by and visit; click Devotion Café.
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Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image “Shimmers Within the Storm,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!
Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this blog without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. If you’re using them in a worship bulletin, please include this info in a credit line:
© Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com.
The prose quotations from John O’Donohue are from his book To Bless the Space Between Us.
January 25, 2012 at 10:55 AM |
Your poem seems written for the particular difficulties I face now. Thank you for affirming the possibility of finding again the peace that will come on “see[ing] what shimmers within the storm”.
Your tea (prayer)book is charming!
January 25, 2012 at 12:21 PM |
Many thanks, Maureen. Peace to you in the storm!
January 25, 2012 at 11:21 AM |
Jan, I love you for what you bring to the table! I have taken a course that has linked creativity to chaos. Without chaos, there is no nudge. It has allowed me to view the chaos in my life as a friendly force…Spirit driven.
January 25, 2012 at 12:40 PM |
Thank you, Mary Ann! It’s great to hear from you, and I so appreciate your words. Yes—amen to creativity and chaos being linked! My creative life definitely is intimately involved with chaos (you should see my studio!), and I can’t imagine creativity and artfulness taking place without chaos.
I think what makes a difference in what direction the chaos goes in—whether it overwhelms/harms/destroys (as was happening with the man whom Jesus heals in this story) or whether it brings forth creativity and life—is our willingness to be open to how God appears to us in the chaos, and to receive and live into the blessing that God offers there. If we can do this, then we’re able to enter into that creative process that chaos can nudge us toward. If we can’t do this, or aren’t willing to, the chaos can start spinning out of control and take over our lives in devastating ways.
I’m so grateful for the ways you engage the chaos and for the beautiful creativity you bring forth! Blessings to you.
January 26, 2012 at 2:07 PM |
Jan, as always, you have propelled me through a thinly veiled doorway into a deep space of profound thinking. Your words have provided me some tools for sorting through some of the ponderings I have been faced with after a period of isolation due to mother nature and power outages. When the world suddenly becomes very guiet and dark, it is amazing how much we must acknowledge. And when the world suddenly lights back up, re-entry can be a challenge. Thanks for this blessing on this day.
January 27, 2012 at 3:39 PM |
Jan,
I often find in your writing the calming sense of direction I need to bring focus to my sermon thoughts. The blessing shared today has done just that.
With ccredit to you, it will be my post-sermon prayer this week, and my personal blessing of renewal. thanks so much.
January 27, 2012 at 3:56 PM |
I usually sign my emails and letters “Light Blessings” or “Love and Blessings,” and I think of this closing as a hug, a final note letting the recipient know I am thinking of them and wish them well. This post makes me realize how much more active and forceful blessings can be. How often we hear or even say “Bless her heart,” as sort of a light remark upon hearing something sweet or innocent or even well-meaning, but missing the mark. Instead, by invoking a blessing we are intending to clear the way for transformation
February 9, 2012 at 4:35 PM |
Blessing in the Chaos: I read this as I was discerning the need to leave my church home of the past many years. It was really painful, and I’d been fighting it for over a year, but this poem keeps delivering me and giving me glimpses of grace. Thank you. Thank you especially for reminding me that God has the final claim on me.
Peace be with you.
February 4, 2014 at 8:14 AM |
I am preparing for a weekend with dear women and friends and have come upon some of these beautiful prayers and reflections. This one really strikes a chord for me. I have also found this beautiful music peace by Margaret Rizza that goes so beautifully with this prayer.
February 4, 2014 at 10:59 AM |
Jane, thanks so much for your words and the video link; how lovely! Sending gratitude and many blessings as you prepare for the weekend with dear ones.
January 9, 2015 at 3:48 PM |
Dear Jan,
I have just discovered your blogs and wanted to tell you what a blessing your writing and sharing has been, not only to me, but those with whom I have already shared it. In particular this Blessing in the Chaos, has been such an encouragement to two of my directees. Thank you so much for your words from the heart and for all you share. May 2015 bring hope, clarity and strength to your wonderful life and may you be blessed richly.
September 13, 2015 at 7:48 PM |
Hi,I’ve had many visions about myself in chaotic dreams,I’m normally running from a situation, or discovering something new in my dreams.However I decided to Google these words in my spirit. BLESSED IN CHAOS,and your emphany 4 blessing appeared.I just want you to know how your prayer poetry has blessed my soul . Continue to let God rule and guide your path.Thank you for sharing your gift to the world. God bless you.
May 22, 2016 at 2:27 PM |
Immediately touches my woundedness. Someone sees ME.
April 29, 2017 at 9:29 PM |
Hi Jan, such powerful words and beautiful blessing! Wondering if I may use your Blessings in the Chaos in a blog post with your credit line. It would make a perfect follow up to a post I wrote today called “The Eye of the Storm”. Thanks. Elke
April 29, 2017 at 11:14 PM |
Elke, thank you! So grateful for your words and for your beautiful blog. I’d be delighted for you to use “Blessing in the Chaos” in a blog post. If you’ll include this info in the credit line, that will be great:
© Jan Richardson, from her book The Cure for Sorrow. janrichardson.com
Thank you so much! Many blessings to you.
May 1, 2017 at 11:42 PM |
Thank you, that’s wonderful! I will certainly do that. Many beautiful blessings to you, Jan! Your work no doubt uplifts so many.
August 11, 2017 at 3:54 PM |
Wow, just discovered this beautiful poem – by accident while searching for something else, I found an image and beautiful quote (excerpted from this piece) attributed to O’Donahue. Having let the internet make me lazy, hehe…at first I reblogged the image to share it and save it for myself…and then a moment later remembered to look it up because I was unfamiliar with the source – I’m glad I did and I found this page so I could attribute the actual author AND find the full poem…looking forward to exploring your beautiful words!
January 14, 2020 at 12:57 AM |
I just found this and it’s January 2020!!! But we all need blessing, and I am experiencing chaos right now. A friend passed this onto me and said she was praying this blessing over me! thank you Jan.
July 12, 2023 at 10:14 PM |
I heard your poem for the first time today. I found it quiet inspiring.