This month’s new book is The Lives we Actually Have:  100 Blessings for Imperfect Days by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie, who “offer creative, faith-based blessings that center gratitude and hope while acknowledging our real, messy lives. Formatted like a prayer book, The Lives We Actually Have is an oasis and a landing spot for weary souls, with blessings that focus on the full range of human moments: garbage days, lovely days, grief-stricken days, and even (especially) completely ordinary days. These heartfelt blessings are a chance to exhale when we feel everything from careworn to restless, devastated to bored. Let’s have a reminder that we don’t need to wait for perfect lives when we can bless the lives we actually have.” (from the publisher)

Although generally based in the Christian tradition, this book offers heartfelt, relatable blessings to anyone who believes in prayer, petition, and praise. The many blessings themselves are revelatory, but I found the introduction particularly compelling. I have often wondered just exactly what a “blessing” is. Why are blessings so important in so many of our traditions, what do we do, exactly, in the act of blessing or receive in the act of being blessed? Bowler tells us that “the act of blessing is the strange and vital work of noticing what is true about God and ourselves. … Blessings put our spiritual house in order.” I am finding much to contemplate in that thought.