Like a Broken Vessel

At this time of sheltering in place, we can begin to feel a little less than whole. We aren't able to carry on our normal routines and we aren't able to really feel useful or helpful when we are just hunkering down at home. But this won't be forever and you actually are being very helpful because by staying put you are keeping the virus from spreading. So today be thankful to God for your health, for your home, for your family and church family. Know that you are loved and beloved.

Do not despair. You hold the memory of what it was to be whole.

It lives deep in your bones. It abides in your heart that has been torn and mended a hundred times. It persists in your lungs that know the mystery of what it means to be full, to be empty, to be full again.

I am not asking you to give up your grip on the shards you clasp so close to you

but to wonder what it would be like for those jagged edges to meet each other in some new pattern that you have never imagined, that you have never dared to dream.

—Jan Richardson, “Blessing for a Broken Vessel” Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.