I grew up in the American South, where “the blessing” was what was said before a meal was eaten. It was sometimes known as “saying grace,” and it often sounded like this: Godisgreatgodisgood-letusthankHimforourfood-byhishandsweallarefed-giveusLordourdailybread. At other times the blessing was a long, rambling speech that made me think I was never going to be allowed to eat the meal in front of me.
Suffice to say that I didn’t understand the concept of blessings when I was a child.
I’ve since learned that the word “blessing” has many meanings, and not all of them involve God or gods. In religious terms, being blessed means to be favored by God. A blessing is something that has come from God, although it may come through the conduit of a priest or other religious figure. To “ask the blessing” is to ask God to protect or bring good fortune to something, such as a meal or a battle.
The idea of blessing someone or asking for a blessing has spread far beyond religious life. It’s common for people to say, “I give you my blessing,” as a way of saying, “It’s okay with me” or “I hope it goes well for you.” There’s also the widespread practice of saying “Bless you” when someone sneezes, which is now more about social etiquette than about invoking God’s protection.
Some research suggests that it’s actually good for your own emotional health when you ask that another person be given blessings or when you acknowledge the ways in which you have been blessed (whether the idea of God is involved or not).
I suspect that many children (and even some adults) are as bewildered by the concept of “blessing” as I was when I was a child. The books described below shed light on the idea in different ways.
What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms & Blessings
By Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by Pamela Zagar
What the Heart Knows is a collection of poems and illustrations so beautiful they make me cry, in a good way. In her introduction, Poet Joyce Sidman tells us that “Since earliest human history, we have used language to try to influence the world around us … We’ve chanted poems and songs to help win battles, bring rain (or make it stop), bless journeys, and ward off evil.”
Alas, chanting blessings is no longer a popular pastime for most people in the United States. They scroll through social media instead, and that most decidedly does not serve the same purpose!
What the Heart Knows is divided into four sections, one of which is Praise Songs & Blessings, “to celebrate, thank, or express love.” The others are Chants & Charms (“to bolster courage and guard against evil”); Spells & Invocations (“to cause something to happen”), and Laments & Remembrances (“to remember, regret, or grieve”), all of which are close relatives of blessings.
If you’ve noticed a common theme on this blog, you will not be surprised to know that I loved the poem “Blessing on the Curl of Cat,” which reads:
As Cat curls
in a circle of sun—
sleek and round,
snug and warm,
a hint of ear
cocked in readiness—
so may I find my place
in this shifting world:
secure within myself,
certain of my worth,
equally willing to
purr
or leap.
My words cannot do justice to Pamela Zagarenski’s illustrations, but I will say that they are poems in pictures.
What the Heart Knows is recommended for older children but will also delight any adult who loves poetry.
You can learn more about Joyce Sidman here. More information about Pamela Zagarenski can be found here.
In Every Life
By Marla Frazee
Author-illustrator Marla Frazee tells us in the introduction to In Every Life that the book was inspired by a call-and-response version of a Jewish baby-naming ceremony in which she participated in 1998. She wanted to use it in a picture book, but it wasn’t until 2020, during the COVID pandemic, that she realized how she wanted to illustrate it.
The words of the blessing are simple, but Frazee’s illustrations show the power within even very simple words. Each line of the blessing is illustrated with a two-page spread that features small vignettes to highlight the hope expressed in the line. A dramatic and wordless two-page spread then follows.
For example, for the line that reads “In every smile, blessed is the light,” the vignettes show a woman lifting a smiling baby into the air, a man reading a picture book to a smiling child, two young boys playfully wrestling on the ground, a little girl hugging a dog, and more. The following wordless spread shows a scene along a park trail where a toddler has left the stroller being pushed by his or her mother and is running toward a grandfather whose arms are opened wide; a man walking an energetic dog; two children riding bikes with a parent; and a couple walking with their arms around each other. The scene is bathed in glorious sunbeams.
The full text of the blessing reads:
In every birth, blessed is the wonder.
In every smile, blessed is the light.
In every hope, blessed is the doing.
In every sadness, blessed is the comfort.
In every moment, blessed is the mystery.
In every love, blessed are the tears.
And in every life, blessed is the love.
Frazee writer that her goal was to “capture and honor what we all have in common, no matter who we are or where we live.” One way she does that is by showing people of all ages, shapes, sizes, races, ethnicities, and abilities. She also shows the full range of human emotion and doesn’t hesitate to include despair and loneliness.
The long germination period for this book was well worth the wait. I think it will still be delighting children and adults a hundred years from now.
You can learn more about Marla Frazee here.
Saving Sky
By Diane Stanley
When Saving Sky begins, Sky is living “off the grid” with her parents and younger sister, Mouse, on their ranch in New Mexico. They live a largely self-sustaining life, using wind and solar power, growing their own food, and living without television or radio. Life would be blissful except that the nation at large is under frequent terrorist attacks. Whenever news of another attack reaches them through phone calls from a distant relative, they perform what they call a blessing. They each participate in a commemoration of those who died in the attack, ending with, “We send each of you our blessing.” Giving the blessing sustains them and strengthens their bond as a family.
Tensions escalate when terrorists destroy a major petroleum refinery. When the family ventures into the nearest town for supplies, they discover that panic buying has begun. They also witness a family being harassed by a man who suspects them of being “Ay-rab” terrorists. They are shocked when a guard apprehends the father and son of that family, not the man who harassed them.
Soon after, a colleague of Sky’s mother is arrested by federal agents. Foreign-born people are being arrested and imprisoned. Agents arrive at Sky’s school to arrest the colleague’s son, Kareem, and Sky helps to whisk him away from school before the agents can get to him. The family decides to hide Kareem on their ranch, even hiding him in a concealed compartment in their horse barn when agents arrive to search the property. Their efforts to outwit the agents and protect him are every bit as suspenseful as the stories about Nazi Germany.
Sky is outraged by what is happening in her community and her nation, but the convictions that her parents have instilled in her have given her strength and determination. The book ends with Sky giving “her best blessing yet” — one that makes me start crying every time I read it.
Saving Sky was written in 2010, but it was uncannily prescient of what was to come in the United States. Sky’s words offer hope to those of us who despair about what has happened to our country: “What would happen … if we stopped being afraid and just spoke the truth.” “We don’t have to let it happen in our state. And if we stop it here, maybe it’ll stop in other places, too.”
You can learn more about Diane Stanley here.
