In beauty I walk – Navajo Blessingway

In beauty I walk

[. . .]

I walk with beauty before me

I walk with beauty behind me

I walk with beauty below me

I walk with beauty above me

I walk with beauty around me

My words will be beautiful

      – From the Navajo Blessingway

Parts of the general Blessingway, especially the songs, are included in most Navajo ceremonies. Unlike the other healing ceremonies, the Blessingways are not intended to cure illness but are used to invoke positive blessings and to avert misfortune. The Blessingway is comparatively short, lasting only two nights, and is often part of longer rites…As a part of Navajo religious practices, the Blessingway is considered to be a highly spiritual, sacred, and private event. (Britannica)

The Navajo Blessingway was included this week in the obituary of a fifty-nine-year-old man I met briefly when Pretty worked in residential real estate many years ago. Erik and his wife, Sara, were Pretty’s clients when they came to Columbia to look for a home. Erik’s obituary was a powerful message that introduced me to the Blessingway.

This particular Navajo Blessingway spoke to me because I feel its truth in the summertime every day that I walk in our neighborhood. Summertime in the South should be called Crape Myrtle Season because the gorgeous blossoms of all colors are at their peak in the heat and humidity that define July with spillovers into August. I have always loved the crape myrtles since I grew up with them in my childhood – the Texas heat was perfect for the hot pink crape myrtles that grew along the small sidewalk at my grandmother’s home in Grimes County.

the lavender blossoms I saw this morning on my walk

In beauty I am privileged to walk, thankful for each day filled with a Blessingway. I walk with beauty before me, and I walk with beauty behind me. I walk with beauty below me, and I walk with beauty above me. I walk with beauty around me in the people who are my family, friends, cyberspace followers, all those who inspire values I cherish. I hope my words will be beautiful to everyone who reads them.

When my words fail, I encourage you to look around…in beauty you walk, too.