Was invited to provide the house blessing for friends who were receiving the keys to their new Habitat home today. What an honour! Community came together to create the house, which was built in partnership with Corrections Canada. I quoted Matthew 18:20 “Wherever two or more gather in my name, I am there in the midst of them”, and pointed out that the home was pretty much filled with the Holy Spirit by nature of the build itself. Then I gave a traditional Irish blessing:

God bless each corner of this house, and be the lintel blessed,
Bless the hearth and bless the board, and bless each place of rest,
Bless the doors that open wide to strangers and to kin,
Bless the crystal window-panes that let the sunlight in.
Bless the roof tree overhead, and bless each sturdy wall.
The peace of man, the peace of God, the peace of Love to all.

So yesterday I received a couple of emails regarding estate matters that stirred up the pot of family experience for me. I found myself feeling attacked, unappreciated and misunderstood. I looked within to see how long THAT has been going on. Definitely a pattern – what an awesome opportunity to send old programming swirling off between the eclipses into that big beautiful Grand Cross!!

But first I spent an awful lot of time going over everything in my head – justifying my behaviours and my opinions. Happily, I largely contained myself on that, knowing that there is no-one to convince but me. I crafted long & detailed responses that show my best self, and did my best not to “fight back” – like I want to feed the frenzy by adding my considerable energy to the fray. Well, you know that parts of me do, but instead I went more “in” to mine the depths, and did my best to be mature about it all.

Now, the fact of the matter is that I am afraid that I am deserving of some of the criticisms that are levelled at me, and I know that the desire to lob some back is where that fear resides. So I focused instead on the parts I am proud of, and made a note to set right anything that inspires shame or embarrassment. Easy peasy – lose the drama and harness that energy into productive action. This feels good. On with the rest of the day!