Easter 5: Blessing with Many Rooms

Image: A Place to DwellImage: A Place to Dwell
© Jan Richardson

Reading from the Gospels, Easter 5, Year A: John 14:1-14

For you, beloveds, for the fifth Sunday in this season of resurrection: a blessing that has plenty of space in it, and room enough to welcome us all.

Blessing with Many Rooms

As you step inside
this blessing,
we wish to tell you
it is large enough
for you to lie down in.

Or (though it may not look it,
small as it is upon this page)
you can curl up
in this blessing
with a cup of tea
and a good book
beside the window—
here, just behind you—
that faces east.

Likewise it is true,
though you might not have
paused long enough
to notice,
that this blessing
is big enough
for a table—
quite a sizeable one
can be accommodated—
where your guests
will want to linger
far into the night.

And if they desire to stay,
you will find that
through this door—
you did not see it before?—
there are rooms in plenty
where they can
lay their heads
and stretch out with abandon
in their dreaming sleep.

One room,
many rooms—
in this blessing
it is all the same.

The point is that
there is space
enough:

enough to make
a life, a home;
enough to make
a world;

enough to make
your way toward
the One who has made
this way for you.

—Jan Richardson
from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings

_____________________


Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image A Place to Dwell, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com.

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. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

2 Responses to “Easter 5: Blessing with Many Rooms”

  1. Thelma Burgonio-Watson Says:

    Jan, thank you !
    last four lines
    filled my un enough ness
    well-being
    this down-sizing
    times .
    Blessings back to you,
    -Thelma

  2. Mary Stone Says:

    Thanks, Jan! I needed that. And I thank God that you are in my life.

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