May Light Shine Out

May the blessing of light be on you –
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire,
so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it.
And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,
like a candle set in the window of a house,
bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the rain be on you,
may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the earth be on you,
soft under your feet as you pass along the roads,
soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day;
and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you
that your soul may be out from under it quickly;
Up and off and on its way to God.
Peace to you, as you journey home,
And may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly.

Scottish Blessing

Today we celebrated the life of a gentle-man. I didn't know Jack well; only as a kindly older man who sang from his heart in the choir as he had done since a wee lad in Scotland. I came away from his service of remembrance wishing that I had made the effort to get to know him better. The Scottish Blessing are words to live by and I think Jack did. With his blessing, may the light shine out of the two eyes of mine.