September. It’s my favorite month of the year.
More than just it being one of the most beautiful and bountiful months in New England where I live, September has always been a time of shift and new beginnings…
An invitation to show up, regroup, renew, start over.
But you don’t need to wait until September or New Year’s to hit the refresh button in your life. You can start over right this second.
This beautiful gift of a poem-prayer by Belleruth Naparstek might help you remember how:
Prayer
Just give me this:
A rinsing out, a cleansing free
Of all my smaller strivings
So that I can be the class act God intended,
True to my purpose,
All my energy aligned behind my deepest intention.
And just this:
A quieting down,
A clearing away of internal ruckus,
So I can hear the huge stillness in my heart,
And feel
How I pulse with all creation,
Part and parcel of Your great singing ocean.
And this too:
A willingness to notice and forgive
The myriad times I fall short,
Forgetting who I really am,
What I really belong to.
So I can start over,
Fresh and clean,
Like sweet sheets billowing in the summer sun,
My heart pierced with gratitude.
–By Belleruth Naparstek, 1997, Prayers for Healing: 365 Blessings, Poems & Meditations from Around the World. Maggie Oman, Editor, Conari Press, Berkeley, CA, Reissued 2008.
Photo Credit: Google Images/hanging–laundry
What a beautiful prayer! Thank you Stephanie!
Thanks so much for sharing that poem, Stephanie! I’ve pasted it in my Inspiration journal.
It really speaks to me now, as I’m clearing out a lot of materials for projects that never happened: “a cleansing free of all my smaller strivings”
They will be treasures for someone else, but not for me… I can hear them whining in the corners.
Love how you say “treasures for someone else, but not for me…” It’s music to me. Letting go at its essence. Ahhh, gorgeous! Thank you, Sara!
Thanks for the generous shoutout. However, this is not quite what I wrote, and since it’s a poem, where words are carefully selected and spaced in deliberate ways, I’d like to submit it as it was written.
The poem, titled Prayer, was copywritten in Maggie Oman’s book, Prayers for Healing, reissued in 2008:
Prayer
Just give me this:
A rinsing out, a cleansing free
Of all my smaller strivings
So I can be the class act God intended,
True to my purpose,
All my energy aligned behind my deepest intention.
And just this:
A quieting down,
A clearing away of internal ruckus,
So I can hear the huge stillness in my heart,
And feel
How I pulse with all creation,
Part and parcel of Your great singing ocean.
And this too:
A willingness to notice and forgive
The myriad times I fall short,
Forgetting who I really am,
What I really belong to.
So I can start over,
Fresh and clean,
Like sweet sheets billowing in the summer sun,
My heart pierced with gratitude.
By Belleruth Naparstek, 1997, Prayers for Healing: 365 Blessings, Poems & Meditations from Around the World. Maggie Oman, Editor. Conari Press, Berkeley, CA, Reissued 2008.
Thanks.
BR
.
Dear Belleruth,
Thank you for your gracious note of clarification. I apologize for posting your work inaccurately. I don’t think I knew where your beautiful prayer came from to be honest, so thanks for setting me (us) straight. I have made the changes.
“Spaced in deliberate ways” is something I can totally relate to.
One of the things I care deeply about is bringing beauty, clarity and aliveness to the spaces we inhabit, and I use this blog as a way to inspire us all on the journey of becoming more aware and clear.
With that in mind, everything I post here is considered with the utmost care. From the choice of content to the photos to the layout and even the font colors, I think of these details (almost too much sometimes) with the intention that this space be a source of nourishment, inspiration, and vibrancy.
I hope it’s still okay that I have shared this prayer in my “blog space.” It moves me deeply every time I read it, as I hope it will for everyone else who finds it gracing this space. I have included a link to the Maggie Oman’s beautiful book in my post.
Blessings,
Stephanie
Thanks much, Stephanie. I appreciate your lovely reply – it matches the spirit, style and content of your beautiful blog.
(And we all know the internet is a complex world where all manner of unbidden serial morphs happen! )
Blessings back,
BR