Grandma lives on...

A dear friend requested a reading she can deliver when she goes back home to attend her grandma's memorial service. Below is my offering.

    Start with a favorite story involving you and grandma. Something you will not tire of telling your kids and grandkids. (pause)

     Express gratitude as you recall grandma's personal gifts to you. "Thank you, grandma, for giving me...."  With a silent pause, invite all to consider what grandma left for each of us. And what we are leaving, paying forward, our children and the future generations in our family tree. (pause)

     Invite all to look to at the palms of their hands. Ask someone, what do you see on the palm of your hand, Sue? After the reply, talk about how you could see grandma and grandma's grandma and all the grandmas back to the beginning on your palm. Consider your lineage, your genealogy. We just did not appear from nowhere. (pause)

     Then invite all to bring the hand to their faces and "feel grandma, and feel grandma touching your face." Then to the ears and throat, and feel and hear grandma's voice in you. Then to the heart, and feel its beat. That's grandma right there. Then feel the breath. And stay there for a few seconds. Feel grandma's breath in you. Feel grandma live on in you... (pause)

     Invite all to sit back and relax and find that quiet space within themselves, invite all to softly close their eyes and then read the blessing slowly with juicy, let-it-sink pauses between blessings:

May you often pause to remember that you

carry the precious gift of grandma's breath-spirit within you.

May you greet grandma's breath-spirit within you

with gratitude and amazement each day when you awaken.

May you be led by grandma's breath-spirit

to the places in your life that are greatly in need of love.

May grandma's breath-spirit within you help you

to find your way home to your heart when you have lost your way.

May grandma's breath-spirit dance in your life

and bring joy to those you meet each day.

Adapted from (changed "Star-Light" to "grandma's breath-spirit"): 

The Circle of Life by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr