In the final minutes of 2022, as anticipation builds toward 2023, I pause to bless the old year. Blessing the old year is a way to say thank you, a gratitude practice of what has been experienced and learned in the last twelve months. Things have been done and left undone — some of which were joys, others griefs; some successes, others failures. Blessing them all is a way of letting them go and letting them be.
I love this prayer for nighttime. Its words are particularly poignant on the last night of the year:
Lord,
it is night.
The night is for stillness.
Let us be still in the presence of God.
It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done;
let it be.
Instead of a praying after a “long day,” the words can be switched: “It is the last night of a long year.” Take a moment amid the celebrations to reflect on whatever 2022 brought and let it be. I hope you don’t just dismiss the old year without a whisper of thanks.
At The End Of The Year
— A Blessing by John O’Donohue
As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them.
The days when the veil lifted
And the soul could see delight;
When a quiver caressed the heart
In the sheer exuberance of being here.
Surprises that came awake
In forgotten corners of old fields
Where expectation seemed to have quenched.
The slow, brooding times
When all was awkward
And the wave in the mind
Pierced every sore with salt.
The darkened days that stopped
The confidence of the dawn.
Days when beloved faces shone brighter
With light from beyond themselves;
And from the granite of some secret sorrow
A stream of buried tears loosened.
We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today,
and creates a vision for tomorrow.
— Melody Beattie
Diana, I love this blessing from John O’ Donahue. I shared the first and last verses of this blessing as part of my Christmas letter to friends and family in December. In December of 2021, I sent a copy of his book, BLESS THE SPACE BETWEEN US, to my sister-in-law after my brother passed away. His blessings and reflections truly touch my heart. Thank you for all of your blessings through the years.
And I thank you for this formative mode of gratitude! This feels like a layer underneath typical thanksgiving.