Everyday Human

by Mary Martin Wiens(Every year, Mary gives a Mother's Day Blessing at our church. Below is what she prepared for this year. I love this woman). Last year, on Mother’s Day, I wrote a blessing to share with our community called “The House of God.”  In the time following that, there was one line that seemed to want to live on in me and it was: “When you stand exposed by the limits of being human.”  I knew that something more was there for me and for us.  But, it first began to manifest itself as a question that tortured me, really.  I kept asking myself,  "How do I stand up under the weight of affecting generations to come with my mistakes, successes, failures, my healed and not healed self?"But then as time passed, the question changed.  Thankfully, it became broader and gentler…I began to ask: When the work is deeply meaningful and we know we will not complete it or do it to perfection or do it like anyone else... how do we find the courage, hope, and energy to still walk into it? And from there I began to ask:  What does God do when we encounter our limits and our fragility?In the end, I realized just how very human it is to feel, at times, like life is asking of us more than we have and more than we are, to feel life is big and ourselves small in the face of it, to know that what is before us is important but to feel we can’t do it or aren’t doing it or that it is too hard.  With that understanding came a deep desire simply to bless humanness.I don't have a complete answer to any of those questions I have been asking, but I want to share with you what I have heard in my deep heart as I have wrestled and listened. On Mother’s Day, especially, I am well aware that my words fall on a wide array of emotion from celebration to grief and every combination in between.  Please know that no matter your story, your age, even your gender, no matter if the children you hold are in your heart, your arms, or the work of your hands, these words are aimed to bless the human heart. So, here they are like a letter to myself but also to you… Repeat these words to yourself I am goodI belongI am called Today, you can accept thatFrom beginning to endWe are all light and dark Like those who went before youAnd those who come after youEveryday humanNot the whole picture, not the whole story,and not meant to beYou were made to be one personWith something to contribute to the whole And it is timeTime to own that you are here nowOwn your giftsOwn your shadowsYour insecurity and maturityYour true capacityIt’s expanse and it’s limitsYour place, becauseNo one else can be what you are here to be So listen to me:Take yourself off the hookDo it nowThe meat hook, the fish hookGo back to the field, and back to the waterGet yourself out from under the microscopeSit up, jump down, be moved to a spacious placeLeave the room where you sit under the jurors gazeStand up, walk out, return to your home And arrive there hearing the voice of God saying:“Just rest, daughterJust rest, sonYou are goodYou belongYou are calledI am giving you all you needTo do the work I have for youYou don’t have to be enoughYou don’t have to bring something for everyoneYou just need to do what I am asking you to doYou are exactly who I need you to beFor the tasks that are yoursI am not afraid to watch you walk out your callingAlong this unfamiliar pathI will lead you gentlyI will gather you in arms that can holdSeverity doesn’t serveKnowing how is not your saviorWorry doesn’t guard the sacred futurePut down those heavy bricksI will complete thisI am carrying thisAll will be well” And in answer you say the only thing you can say:Here I amI will give myselfI will do it as me And you hear back what you most need to hear:Here am IHere I amYours and God’s simultaneous And you will be able to say what you most need to say:Children, I honor the life of God in youRepeat these words with meI am good, I belong, I am called (And this is the video of Mary sharing this blessing. Watch it - her presence is powerful).https://vimeo.com/66082830Photo Credit