Last week, I made my weekly trip to the St.Paul Farmer’s Market. I am always so inspired by the sheer beauty and bounty of the place. Row after row of colorful vegetables, beautiful flowers, multi-colored eggs, golden honey, hot, black coffee and equally lovely and interesting people to watch. It is a testament to the seasons and I never fail to leave feeling blessed. Blessed to live where I do. Blessed to be presented with such beauty and goodness. Blessed with the gifts of the seasons and the hands of those who have labored for my nutrition.

As sometimes happens to me in the morning, As I was walking I was visited by an enormous sneeze. A woman walking toward me did what most would do on hearing such a sound. “Bless you.” she said. I replied my thanks and continued walking, the morning need to free up my nasal passages cured.

But her ‘bless you’ stayed with me. I thought about the fact that a total stranger had just called a blessing down upon me in a public place. It felt so wonderful. The next thought that came to my mind was that if felt so good to receive, it might also feel really wonderful to give.

And so I began silently sending blessings to different people I passed. The child in the stroller who had bed hair and a chocolate sprinkle donut. The many farmers, who had been there much earlier than I had, setting up their wares for the city dwellers to purchase. The older Russian couple I have seen with regularity on Saturday mornings whose voices I love hearing as they speak their native tongue. My personal favorite vendors….the one who looks like the quintessential Norweigan bachelor farmer, the young man selling scented soaps. Blessing for all around.

To participate in the act of blessing, we agree to be a part of a relationship. We agree, I believe, that we are all connected through our creation. The Creator who breathed us all into being is the common denominator that flows through us all. By blessing I essentially say ‘I see God in you and that makes us kin.’

It all started with a simple sneeze. But it morphed into a reminder of so much more. That being alive is a gift not to be taken lightly. That I travel the road with those whose names and lives I known nothing about. That the One I claim as the Source of it all is in the mix creating connection, beauty, goodness and gratitude.

And that, in and of itself, is a blessing.

Have a wonderful, long weekend……..