Sandy Hook Elementary

Once blessed, [you] are blessed forever.

–Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

The verbal act of blessing is a marvelous gift. I have been pondering the gift of blessing more intentionally as I look upon my 3 year old son this week. I have been very attune to my feelings as a parent these last days, thinking of what it is like for all these families of Sandy Hook Elementary who have suffered so greatly because of the loss of their children and daily sending my prayers around them. It has been touching to read about the acts of service that have been offered to honor the lives of those who have died. See Ann Curry’s #26 Acts. But as I have thought about these acts, I have also began to think more about the children who have lived through this terror: the children who will carry the fear, the hurt, the loss of their childhood innocence with them forever,and I realized they too need to be remembered. They too need to be celebrated. They too need to be blessed. They need to be allowed to be children, and to be celebrated as children. We need to bless the living while they are here, so that they recognize their lives as blessed.

One of my favorite authors introduced to me in my training as a spiritual counselor was Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen. She shares stories that invite you to look more deeply at your own sacredness, and that invite you to celebrate your life as you are living. The quote I shared today, comes from a wonderful story she shares called, Blessings, from her book, My Grandfather’s Blessings. She shares a story of how her grandfather would bless her each time she was with him…how he accepted her and celebrated her for just being the little girl she was created to be right there in the moment. And that these blessings have stayed with her forever.

So I invite you to act out service whenever you can, but make blessing those you meet a part of your day every day, by receiving them just as they are at that moment, with an open heart: Sit with those who are grieving and listen, praise your children for just being the wonderful individuals that they are, tell your friends that they are a blessing in your life, and so on. And remember that no matter how life treats you or what befalls you, “Once you are blessed, you are blessed forever.” So even if that blessing came along when you were 1 day old, you are blessed each and every day since then:

This is a blessing that says you are a wonder of the world, you are amazing just as you are, you are a beautiful soul, a wonderful friend, a Divine creation, a symbol of love; you are a blessing unto others, and to yourself.

By offering blessing to those we meet, and by recognizing ourselves as a blessing as well, we heal the world, and celebrate life.

I join you in this offering of blessing. I will continue to work at teaching my son how to love, how to do acts of service, how to “pay it forward,” every day of his life. But right now, most importantly I will bless him, and love him for all that he his, so one day when he walks out the door, and I am not there to guide him through his day, he will know he is beloved, so no matter what struggles he encounters, he will already know deep in his heart he is blessed; and that will be something no one can take away from him, but it will also be a reminder each day for him, that he is wonderful, and that his life matters. And by blessing him, I will teach him to bless others along his journey: to take the time to be present to people, to celebrate their lives, to bless this gift of life that he has and that he shares with all of us who live on this planet.

You are a blessing!
Blessings to you, Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue

Yesterday, afternoon, my son and I were visiting a friend and her daughter. The children played and we talked about the challenges of being parents, and how hard Life can be when we love our children so deeply. We had no idea about anything that was happening in Newtown, CT, as we discussed the challenges of life. Life was happening right where we were, and yet LIFE was also happening only a couple hours away from our home.

As we went about our visit, we engaged our children, resolving conflicts and teaching them how to acknowledge each other’s feelings, especially when they hurt the other child’s feelings. Sometimes the children freely went up to the other to say I’m sorry, other times they resisted feeling they had a right to defend themselves. And yet, through it all we offered them our LOVE, in the very best way we knew how…accepting and receiving both children as beloved, beautiful, and whole…we affirmed them, redirected them, challenged them, we mirrored empathy and compassion for the other, as well as for self. Both my friend and I, acted out of LOVE for our children, and for each other’s child as Sacred, Beautiful, and Whole.

After we said our good-byes my son and I got into our car, and turned on the radio, and then we began to hear The News. But none of the radio stations mentioned what had happened. It was as though, God, was watching over me as a mom, to not know what happened as I drove, because when I took a moment to cook dinner and go on my phone to check the web, I began to sob, and the sounds of the cook vent drowned out my tears, as my son played on the floor with his cars in the other room. I would have probably had to pull off the road if I had been driving, and how would I tell my 3 year old son why mommy was crying?

Our hearts ache as parents, as people who love, as people who are deeply good. Every day, we Live, we have to work at Life. There is something about encountering the Sacred innocence of children in pain, that breaks at our souls. Its a deep hallow grief that goes to our core. This pain we feel, says something about who we are as we have been created: We were not made to be so broken. We were not made to ache the way we do. Our created selves were made to be whole, to be filled with love.

So I ask myself, deeply, as a parent, a mother, a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter, am I loving the right way? As I engaged my child and lead him in conflict resolution, and learning to accept and love the other even when your feelings have been hurt, I wonder, am I teaching him LOVE? I hope and pray that I am every day of my life.

What happened in Newtown wasn’t just about one person, it is about all of us. It’s about our culture that glorifies violence, and death. We hush our voices when we talk about God, and so often we give up on trying to learn how to Love the other, because it’s too hard or he or she doesn’t complement us the way we feel they should, so we give up and fill ourselves with emptiness or loneliness instead.

Life goes on around us all the time. We may not be in the middle of the chaos, or we might be right in the center of Ground Zero; where ever we are Life is happening. We have a choice each day, how we are going to offer our love to our children, our spouses, our friends, and neighbors. We have a choice to stop and pause, no matter how busy our days are, and let someone else know, “I SEE YOU. I AM TOTALLY PRESENT TO YOU: TO LISTEN TO YOU, TO LOVE YOU, TO HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY BOTH IN YOUR WORDS, AND IN THE EMOTIONS OF YOUR BODY.” We also have a choice to let God, Spirit, Love, into our lives more, so that we don’t have to do all this hard work alone. For we have a Creator who desperately wants to be a part of our lives, and to carry our burdens for us. But so often we don’t want the help, or we are too lost to ask for help, because so many of us are just too busy to notice when someone is hurting or we turn away.

So today, and every day, remember to take the time to LOVE. It will be the greatest gift you can ever give, and ever receive. And keep trying, Keep Loving the Best you can every day, for you, and for all those you cross paths with.

May God, ease the pain of the brokenhearted, and enter our lives, to teach us more deeply about LOVE.

Tell and show those you meet along your walk in life & Tell and show yourself:

Tag: Sandy Hook Elementary

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