So I suggest to you the usual things: make sure you’re eating well, getting enough rest, getting outside on the days when weather permits. Those of you with a web of obligations may need to take a little time away from them, to be in a space where nothing is expected of you for a little while. Pray. Come to church. Be with a community that wants to lift you up.

But sometimes, even when we check all of those boxes, we are still wanting something, still too compressed, still tired. And sometimes, until we figure out if there’s something else we need to do to make things better—for ourselves, for our families, for our church—we just go on, putting that one foot in front of the next, choosing to trust (or trying to trust) that there are better things coming. For times like that, I offer you this blessing, by Kate Bowler.

Oh, and P.S. The youth group is going to be doing some gardening out front soon—I think we can all look forward to the uplift of green growing things, and a little floral refreshment around the church’s front door.

for when you just need to put one foot in front of the other

Oh, God,

the thought of trying for a new and improved me

makes me tired.

I am barely getting anywhere,

so draw me closer to a different vision,

one that sees that I don’t need perfection—

I need love.

Free me from the expectation

that life should always be better.

from the everyday stressors—

the bills, the pressure, the dependents,

the existential fears about the future

and the worries of right now.

I am threadbare.

Blessed are we, remembering

that the world is not ours to shoulder alone.

Help us put one foot in front of the other

as best we can.

Oh God, today,

give us enough to go on,

give us hope to see a future,

give us joy to see a present

lit up by your love.

P.S. And give me only enough humility

to be reminded that I look terrible in hats.

I mean, truly, unphotographable.