I'm Just Really Glad You're Here

A Benediction for the Holidays

Jen shared her with us last year and followed up this year with a benediction for the holidays that we wanted to share with you!

A benediction for the holidays:

I hope you find joy, even if the season is heavy. Not the Hallmark kind of joy (although certainly that too if you find it available to you), but that kind of joy that you will reflect on years from now when the hard of the season is less tender and what is left is the reminder of the moments you managed to find joy there too, and isn’t that a miracle?

I hope you find rest. I hope you go to bed early and I hope you wake refreshed. I hope you have moments to sit down, prop your feet up, and breathe in deeply. I wish for you days to sleep late, wake slow, sip reverently, and savor. I hope you make a slow stroll around the block, find a flavor of tea you love, and remember that the season isn’t meant to be frantic.

I hope you find nourishment in both the food way and the soul way. I hope you have good food. I hope you have cookies and cucumbers. I hope you are kind to your body - absurdly, unashamedly, like it’s a revelation because it is. I hope you trust yourself. I hope you have moments with beloved people who make you feel like your best self and leave feeling studier than when you arrived. I hope you feel connected to the world and to its people and to your neighbors.

If this season happens to be a good one, one full of twinkle lights and sugar cookies and actual Christmas magic, I hope you tuck it into your heart with the gratitude it deserves. What a gift. I am so happy for you. I hope it remains so. Everyone deserves seasons of glorious celebration and how wonderful that this is one for you.

This is a season that can make us feel unmoored a bit. We’re out of our routines, often surrounded by people we love and who love us, but who also push on our bruises and remind us of a version of ourselves who we have outgrown or roles we’ve played that don’t fit anymore. So I hope you can find a lot of grace - for yourself, especially, and for your people. I hope you can have honest conversations and that you’ll be brave if you need to. I hope you find surprising moments of connection, agreement or compassion. I hope you have one person who you can make eye contact with and know you’re both thinking the same thing. I hope you can forgive yourself quickly for any mistakes you make and that you will try to extend that same compassion to others. But I also hope that you will remember you are worthy of dignity and respect and take no shit from anyone who tries to make you feel otherwise.

I hope this season is kind to you. I hope this season is gentle. And I’ll just remind you that, in this and every season, you are a gift to the world and to me, and I’m just really glad you’re here.

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