Summer Solstice Blessing

Radiant One,
creator of the cosmos
and the luminaries which light our way,
bless this day of longest light
and the gift of the sun
to bring warmth to our lives
and abundance of growth,
sweetness of blueberries,
refreshment of lemons,
nourishment of kale
and a thousand other kinds of food.
We sing in gratitude
along with the sparrows and robins
rising each morning
to celebrate another day.
Help us remember
the universe came into being
14 billion years ago,
with ancient skies unfurling,
stars spilling across the heavens,
and manifesting in every living thing.
Light is our inheritance,
calling us to be bearers of radiance,
bringing new life
from the fertile darkness.

~Christine Valters Paintner

where the time lingers…

inquiry for today~ for all the darkest nights…..

many sweet days of light….

the world

is created.Under the orange

sticks of the sun

the heaped

ashes of the night

turn into leaves againand fasten themselves to the high branches—

and the ponds appear

like black cloth

on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.If it is your nature

to be happy

you will swim away along the soft trailsfor hours, your imagination

alighting everywhere.And if your spirit

carries within it

the thorn

that is heavier than lead—if it’s all you can do

to keep on trudging—there is still

somewhere deep within you

a beast shouting that the earth

is exactly what it wanted—each pond with its blazing lilies

is a prayer heard and answered

lavishly,every morning,whether or not

you have ever dared to be happy,

whether or not

you have ever dared to pray.

~Mary Oliver