God's Blessing

I bless the poverty in your heart, that knows its own emptiness, because that gives me space to grow my Kingdom there.

I bless that in you that touches others gently, because everyone responds to gentleness, and gentleness can capture even hardened hearts.

I bless that in you which grieves and aches for all that is lost or can never be, because that is my opportunity to comfort you with my, much greater, love.

I bless that in you which longs and strives after your own deepest truth and after truth for the world, because even as you pray I am constantly satisfying these deep unspoken longings.

I bless you every time you show mercy and forgiveness, because that is like a little window in your heart opening up a space for me to enter and to heal.

I bless the purity of your heart, because that is the elusive centre where your deepest desire meets mine. That is where we meet face to face.

I bless the peacemaker in you - that in your soul which seeks the peace that passeth understanding, even at a great cost.

I bless even those things in your experience of journeying with me that feel like persecution and misunderstanding because they are the proof that your faith is no illusion.

Margaret Silf
(Cited in Peter Millar's ‘Finding Hope Again', p177)