Irish Blessing

At a wedding reception this weekend, the Best Man included in his speech to the groom what is known as the "Irish Blessing". When I heard it I immediately came to think of my grandmother. This blessing was written on the back of one of her funeral cards, which I kept.  It goes like this:

May the road rise to meet you,

may the wind be always

at your back.

May the sun shine warm

upon your face, the rains

fall soft upon your fields,

and until we meet again

may God hold you in the 

hollow of His hand.

A day later, for some reason God knows, this blessing came to mind again as I tried to sleep at night and just could not. I had to pull out the funeral card to read the blessing verbatim. 

I'm sure it was hormones, or maybe the feeling of being the only one up in the middle of the night and having that sole-person-awake feeling of loneliness, but reading it over a few times made me cry and cry and cry, for about 15 minutes. I was thinking of my grandma, and how specifically I'd come to associate this Irish Blessing with her. The last few lines really get to me. I believe my grandma is in beauty and peace right now in heaven, and the promise of meeting her again brings forth a teary happiness and also a sadness in figuring how long that may be. My heart is stilled by the imagery of God hollowing His hand to seat and comfort His children.

Sometimes prayer and falling to the awesomeness of God helps put you to sleep.