Bereavement
Spirit of Love and of Life, we gather here this day to remember. To remember those who have touched our lives by their living and their dying. Blessed be their lives, and our memories of them.
We stand in the presence of a mystery, that life is, that we know the pleasures of family and friends, that we can celebrate the gentle joys of community and companionship. That we have breath, is a mystery. That we live, is itself a mystery.
In the presence of these memories, these spirits who still touch our lives, let us open our hearts in thanksgiving. Thankful for their presence in our lives, thankful for the blessing of time that was ours to share with these friends, loved ones, partners, companions.
Let us open our hearts with gratitude for all they have given to us, and let that gratitude spill over the loss that we feel, let it fill that which is left empty within us. Gratitude for all the gifts, living on here in these tokens, in our hearts, in our lives.
Open your heart in thanksgiving for those who still grace your life. Our time is too short to be taken with petty disagreements and angry divisions. Our time is too short to hold our love within.
Open to those around you, for the treasures that they may yield in your life. Open to those around you for the treasures they may find within you, that precious and wondrous spark of life that you embody.
The world is more mystery than not, and we are ever in the presence of gifts beyond measure. In the quiet of our time, may we reach to touch that treasure, that giftedness, and may we return to our lives with a new sense of kindness and care, of gentle love and compassion for those who fill our lives.
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