The South Shore of Utah Lake is another place I go when I seek learning. It is mostly orchard (peach and apple trees) and ranch land (some cattle, horses) with a few sparse homes. A shoreline road follows the curves and bends of the lake. I often see Osprey, Bald Eagle (the only place I’ve seen them in Utah), and many Sea Gulls. Sometimes Deer. I go for the spaciousness and a different kind of quiet to open my heart.
In the spirit of continued blessing, today, here is another that I enjoy from John O’Donohue. I think of it as a blessing of learning, an encouragement of integration. O’Donohue names it as Morning Offering. I’m glad for words and images to guide and to draw attention to magical of the big and the small.
A Morning Offering
John O’Donohue
I bless the night that nourished my heart
To set the ghosts of longing free
Into the flow and figure of dream
That went to harvest from the dark
Bread for the hunger no one sees.
All that is eternal in me
Welcomes the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.
I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.
May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.