Blessings Archive - Kate Bowler https://katebowler.com/blessings/ Historian,  Author,  Human Fri, 30 Jun 2023 11:33:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 a blessing for you who feel like the bad thing https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-you-who-feel-like-the-bad-thing-2/ https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-you-who-feel-like-the-bad-thing-2/#respond Fri, 30 Jun 2023 11:33:28 +0000 https://katebowler.com/?post_type=blessings&p=16762 You are everyone’s reminder of frailty, of life’s cruelty. Your chronic pain or depression or regular scans remind those around you that life isn’t as fair or easy as they had hoped. Blessed are you who try to hide your humanity. You who temper your complaints, who avoid mentioning your next appointment, who pretend you […]

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]]> https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-you-who-feel-like-the-bad-thing-2/feed/ 0 a blessing for when you can’t sleep https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-when-you-cant-sleep/ https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-when-you-cant-sleep/#respond Fri, 30 Jun 2023 11:32:26 +0000 https://katebowler.com/?post_type=blessings&p=16760 Oh God, again I lie here.Awake.Too tired, too restless, for sleep to come.How will I ever get through tomorrow?Oh God, bring peace to my mind and body,and blanket me in the heaviness of slumber. Blessed are we, still awake in night’s loud darkness, who say:Oh God, help me. You know the state I’m in.My mind […]

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]]> https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-when-you-cant-sleep/feed/ 0 a blessing for the life you didn’t chose https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-the-life-you-didnt-chose/ https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-the-life-you-didnt-chose/#respond Mon, 12 Jun 2023 18:02:59 +0000 https://katebowler.com/?post_type=blessings&p=16627 Blessed are you when the shock subsides,when vaguely, you see a line appear that divides before and after. You didn’t draw it, and can barely even make it out.But as surely as minutes add up to hours and days,here you are,forced into a story you never would have written. Blessed are you in the tender […]

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]]> https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-the-life-you-didnt-chose/feed/ 0 a blessing for waking up to summer https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-waking-up-to-summer-2/ https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-waking-up-to-summer-2/#respond Mon, 12 Jun 2023 18:01:50 +0000 https://katebowler.com/?post_type=blessings&p=16624 Blessed are we,beginning to feel some releasefrom pandemic constraints,from the long sad season of anxious vigilance,the boredom and frustration of plans deferred. There is new ground appearing,and paths we didn’t know were there. Blessed are we who say, okay!but God, you’re going to needto help me wake up, the music,the movement and the color of […]

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]]> https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-waking-up-to-summer-2/feed/ 0 a blessing for when you’re sick but have no answers https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-when-youre-sick-but-have-no-answers/ https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-when-youre-sick-but-have-no-answers/#respond Sun, 04 Jun 2023 19:45:02 +0000 https://katebowler.com/?post_type=blessings&p=16544 Yours is the body that bears the burden,  the heart that carries the disappointment  when operations are unsuccessful  when medications cause side effects,  —or don’t work at all.  Yours is the life being dominated by an illness  that shouts so loudly, but in a language no one seems to understand.  Yours is the arrival that […]

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]]> https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-when-youre-sick-but-have-no-answers/feed/ 0 for the courage to do something difficult https://katebowler.com/blessings/for-the-courage-to-do-something-difficult/ https://katebowler.com/blessings/for-the-courage-to-do-something-difficult/#respond Mon, 22 May 2023 15:44:26 +0000 https://katebowler.com/?post_type=blessings&p=16492 God, I am struggling to face the difficult thing I know I should do.The conversation I’ve been avoiding.The help I should have asked for months ago.The symptom I have long ignored. Oh God, help me.I am afraid to actbut afraid to admit my inactionmight be making things worse. Blessed are we who recognize thatwe are […]

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]]> https://katebowler.com/blessings/for-the-courage-to-do-something-difficult/feed/ 0 A Blessing for Mother’s Day https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-mothers-day-2/ https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-mothers-day-2/#respond Tue, 16 May 2023 14:05:43 +0000 https://katebowler.com/?post_type=blessings&p=16482 Bless all the moms—those who have carried usin their bodies,and in their hearts,and in their minds,and all those who have mothered usin some form or fashion. The ones who answer our callsno matter the time of day,or absurd the request.Those who remind us that we are loved, loved, lovedno matter what. We thank them and […]

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]]> https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-mothers-day-2/feed/ 0 a blessing for your great, big, dumb heart https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-your-great-big-dumb-heart/ https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-your-great-big-dumb-heart/#respond Wed, 10 May 2023 16:06:03 +0000 https://katebowler.com/?post_type=blessings&p=16458 Love can break your heart. It’s probably in the fine print.  Didn’t you click the box at the bottom of the terms and conditions?  Blessed are you when your kids are ungrateful,  when your parents are unbearable,  or when they would have been if they were still around.  When you help an unfixable friend,  listen […]

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]]> https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-your-great-big-dumb-heart/feed/ 0 a blessing for those who care about strangers https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-those-who-care-about-strangers/ https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-those-who-care-about-strangers/#comments Wed, 03 May 2023 17:09:14 +0000 https://katebowler.com/?post_type=blessings&p=16438 What a waste. That wasn’t going to get you a nicer apartment. Bless those who give their health in service of patients who might not even deserve it. What if that patient took unnecessary risks or was selfish or was never going to say thank you? You could have been protecting yourself or God forbid, […]

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]]> https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-those-who-care-about-strangers/feed/ 3 a blessing for when you might not know how to pray (or want to) https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-when-you-might-not-know-how-to-pray-or-want-to/ https://katebowler.com/blessings/a-blessing-for-when-you-might-not-know-how-to-pray-or-want-to/#respond Wed, 03 May 2023 17:06:32 +0000 https://katebowler.com/?post_type=blessings&p=16436 Blessed are you in this terrible, wonderful now. Fumbling around for the right words. You need so much and it seems impossible to say at all. Blessed are you for whom prayer feels hopeless, disappointing, futile. Blessed are you in your radical honesty, in the ways you speak of your grief. The long, sleepless nights […]

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