Our 6:30 AM send off

 Beloved Is Where We Begin

If you would enter
into the wilderness,

do not begin
without a blessing.

Do not leave without hearing
who you are:

Beloved,
named by the One
who has traveled this path
before you.

Do not go
without letting it echo
in your ears,

and, if you find it hard
to let it into your heart,
do not despair.

That is what
this journey is for.

I cannot promise
this blessing will free you
from danger,
from fear,
from hunger
or thirst,
from scorching
of sun
or the fall
of the night.

But I can tell you that on this way
there will be rest.

I can tell you
that you will know
the strange graces
that come to our aid
only on a road
such as this,
that fly to meet us
bearing comfort
and strength,

that come alongside us
for no other cause
than to lean themselves
toward our ear

and with their
curious insistence
whisper our name:

Beloved.

Beloved.

Beloved.


Jan Richardson