Bless This Ordinary Day

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 Friends! It's been a while, but I've gotten back to the blog! Here's a writing I did yesterday, inspired by the poem "Normal Day" by Mary Jean Irion.



Bless this ordinary day…

Bless the coffee, which is such an ordinary part of so many of our lives, yet has travelled great distances to cheer our cup.

Bless the high lands and steep mountainsides where the beans grow.

Bless Tanzania, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Sumatra, Guatemala.

Bless the workers who pick and who roast.

Bless Fair Trade organizations who ensure these workers are paid fairly for all their labors.

Bless the shelf stockers, organizing and reorganizing the shelves so we can easily find our coffee, our cereals, our daily bread.

Then bless the water.

Bless the first sips of the morning, the ones that rehydrate your parched body.

Bless the water, so easily accessible to us, that flows from our faucets, our showerheads, our spigots.

And bless the wells and the rain barrels.

Bless all those around the world for whom getting clean water is much more of a chore.

Bless our white oval tabletop, surrounded by four wooden chairs.

Bless this table which invites us to sit and linger for a while, which coaxes us to not be in such a rush.

Even bless the crumbs and the dried pasta on the floor, remnants of last night’s dinner.

Bless the mess – it too is evidence that we’re alive.

Bless the tomate, y cebolla, y aguacate

Which when you say it in Spanish, just somehow makes the meal taste that much better.

Bless tortilla chips and the crunch.

Bless the bright blue sky and the puffy white clouds.

God bless the dandelions - even and especially when your neighbor nonchalantly asks if you still have your lawn service.

Bless the pillows, and the blackout curtains, and your good sense to take that nap.

Bless the teachers, the school bus drivers, and their uncanny ability to not snap amidst the rowdy schoolchildren.

God bless Buddy Benches and Little Free Libraries.

Bless and bless and bless… until we lose sight of just what it was that we wanted to curse about.  

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