I woke up this morning to a blue etch-a-sketch sky outside my window, crisscrossed by a multitude of vapor trails from aircraft passing high overhead. My sleepy gaze was immediately focused on one crisp white line moving rapidly above the horizon, on course to intersect with two others. When it did, the three lines created a large white triangle in the morning sky. The surprising image brought the Holy Trinity to mind, and this thought melded into a quiet prayer of praise. God was in His heaven and all was right with the world. The jet continued racing to the east beyond the triangle, trailing vapor in its wake until it disappeared into some chalky white clouds that shrouded the rising sun. I went to the kitchen to prepare a cup of tea. The day had begun with a gentle blessing in the heavens.
When I sat down and opened my prayer book, I was greeted with divine serendipity in the above verse from Ephesians. I have read these words before, but this morning the passage came alive in a fresh new way because of one simple word that jumped out this time: every.
We have been blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Do we realize fully what this means? There are no partial blessings with God. No. None are missing. We need not fear being shortchanged by Him in this life. We do not have to envy those who have gone before us. We do not need to wait to get to heaven before we can receive the fullness of our Father's blessings. He holds nothing back from us. We receive every blessing now, in Christ, who is with us and has told us that the kingdom of heaven is within us. In Him is every spiritual blessing. On earth as it is in in heaven! There is no inadequacy of grace for our earthly pilgrimage.
It is late afternoon as I write this, and at this very hour my brother and his wife are saying goodbye to their 18-year-old son, their only child, who has enlisted in the Army and leaves for basic training tonight. What a momentous and heart-wrenching time for the three of them. It seems like just yesterday he was a tiny newborn baby in his parents' arms, and now he has grown into a strong, tall, handsome young man who has made a decision that will determine a brave new course for his life.
Our families do not live in the same state so I have not been able to say goodbye to my nephew in person. As always, my love and prayers will have to travel across the miles in my place. So right now a spiritual vapor trail is tracing its way across the heavens from my heart to his. As the sun begins to set, hope begins to rise.
My dear Nephew, I love you and am so very proud to be your aunt and your godmother. Your decision to join the Army is full of courage and full of hope. The love and prayers of your parents have blessed you all of your life and will continue forever. And even now their support and their tears of farewell are blessing you. The love and caring of your grandparents and all your family and friends have blessed you. You lack nothing. Godspeed. You have been blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.
There is a card on my nightstand that I had bought several years ago at the gift shop of a Poor Clares monastery. I was saving it for just the right person on just the right occasion. However, when I came across it in a box a few weeks ago I realized the person it was meant for is me, so I gave it to myself. The front of the card is a simple watercolor of two pink roses, painted by one of the Sisters. The inside is blank, but the following two lines on the front of the card are a powerful daily reminder for me and are meant to be shared:
Just to be is a blessing.
Just to live is holy.
Ponder these words for yourself. Let them sink deep down into your soul. Then begin to count your blessings. Each and every blessing. Let me know when you run out of numbers . . . .
