Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself.
—Philippians 2.5-7
From a lectionary reading for Palm/Passion Sunday: Philippians 2.5-11
Reflection for Friday, March 30 (Day 33 of Lent)
Blessing that Becomes Empty
as It Goes
This blessing
keeps nothing
for itself.
You can find it
by following the path
of what it has let go,
of what it has learned
it can live without.
Say this blessing out loud
a few times
and you will hear
the hollow places
within it,
how it echoes
in a way
that gives your voice
back to you
as if you had never
heard it before.
Yet this blessing
would not be mistaken
for any other,
as if,
in its emptying,
it had lost
what makes it
most itself.
It simply desires
to have room enough
to welcome
what comes.
Today,
it’s you.
So come and sit
in this place
made holy
by its hollows.
You think you have
too much to do,
too little time,
too great a weight
of responsibility
that none but you
can carry.
I tell you,
lay it down.
Just for a moment,
if that’s what you
can manage at first.
Five minutes.
Lift up your voice—
in laughter,
in weeping,
it does not matter—
and let it ring against
these spacious walls.
Do this
until you can hear
the spaces within
your own breathing.
Do this
until you can feel
the hollow in your heart
where something
is letting go,
where something
is making way.
—Jan Richardson
2016 update: “Blessing That Becomes Empty as It Goes” appears in my new book Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.
[To use the image “Emptied,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]
March 31, 2012 at 9:25 AM |
Beautiful blessing.
March 31, 2012 at 5:33 PM |
Kind thanks, Carolyn!
March 27, 2018 at 8:17 PM |
oh jan. i cannot thank you enough for your blessings, scripture, and words beyond words. you cut to the heart, our innermost being. you bring tears to my eyes.