I love this prayer!

[jeanne]

The Gentle Art of Blessing
By Pierre Pradervand

On awakening, Bless this day,
for it is already full of unseen good
which your Blessings will call forth;
for to Bless is to acknowledge
the unlimited good
that is embedded
in the very texture of the universe
and awaiting each and all.
On passing people in the street,
on the bus,
in places of work and play,
Bless them.
The peace of your Blessing
will accompany them on their way
and the aura of its gentle fragrance
will be a light to their path.

On meeting and talking to people,
Bless them in their health,
their work, their joy,
their relationships to God,
themselves and others.
Bless them in their abundance, their finances.
Bless them in every conceivable way,
for such Blessings not only sow seeds of healing
but one day will spring forth as flowers of joy
in the waste places of your own life.
As you walk, Bless the city in which you live,
its government and teachers,
its nurses and street sweepers,
its children and bankers,
its priests and prostitutes.

The minute anyone expresses the least aggression
or unkindness to you respond with a Blessing.
Bless them totally, sincerely, joyfully,
for such Blessings are a shield
which protects them from the ignorance of their misdeed,
and deflects the arrow that was aimed at you.

To Bless means to wish,
unconditionally, totally, unrestricted good
for others and events
from the deepest wellspring
in the innermost chamber of your heart.
It means to hallow, to hold in reverence,
to behold with utter awe
that which is always a gift from the Creator.

He who is hallowed by your Blessing
is set aside, consecrated, holy, whole.
To Bless is to invoke Divine care upon,
to think or speak gratefully for,
to confer happiness upon –
although we ourselves
are never the bestower,
but simply the joyful witness of Life’s abundance.

To Bless all without discrimination of any sort
is the ultimate form of giving,
because those you Bless will never know
from whence came the sudden ray of sun
that burst through the clouds of their skies,
and you will rarely be a witness to the sunlight in their lives.
When something goes completely askew in your day,
some unexpected event knocks down your plans
and you too also,
burst into Blessing -
for life is teaching you a lesson.

And the very event you believe to be unwanted,
you yourself called forth,
so as to learn the lesson you might balk against
were you not to Bless it.
Trials are Blessings in disguise
and hosts of Angels follow in their path.
To Bless is to acknowledge
the omnipresent,
universal beauty
hidden to material eyes;
it is to activate that law of attraction which,
from the furthest reaches of the universe,
will bring into your life exactly
what you need to experience and enjoy.

When you pass a prison,
mentally Bless its inmates
in their innocence and freedom,
their gentleness, pure essence
and unconditional forgiveness;
for one can only be prisoner of one’s self-image,
and a free man can walk unshackled
in the courtyard of a jail
just as citizens of countries where freedom reigns
can be prisoners
when fear lurks in their thoughts.

When you pass a hospital,
Bless its patients
in their present wholeness,
for even in their suffering,
this wholeness awaits in them to be discovered.
When your eyes behold a man in tears,
or seemingly broken by life,
Bless him in his vitality and joy:
for the material senses present
but the inverted image of the ultimate splendor and perfection
which only the inner eye beholds.

It is impossible to Bless and judge at the same time,
so hold constantly as deep,
hallowed, intoned thought
that desire to Bless,
for truly then shall you become
a Peacemaker
and one day, you shall, everywhere,
behold the very face of God.

And of course above all,
don’t forget to Bless the utterly beautiful person you are!

[Zack]

How nice! Thanks for sharing

for even in their suffering,
this wholeness awaits in them to be discovered.

A very nice thing to bear in mind that even the most broken still have all the potential of wholeness in them.

Zack

[brother dave k.]

i like it also Jeanne, thank you for sharing its sentiments.

Much love to you sister,
brother dave k.

[Kathryn]

and Bless the person that cuts you off when driving

ahh but seriously Jeanne - thank you so much for that special prayer!

Blessings to you, Kathy

[Terry Adler]

Thank you, Jeanne!
This is wise and beautiful, to be deeply embraced and practiced.
A wonderful addition to my prayer-thoughts!
Love,
Terry