A blessing for the courage to try
(and the wisdom to know when to stop)

Blessed are you, faced with the impossible. 
You who do not take your eyes away 
from what threatens to swallow you whole. 
You who stare down reality, 
though your heart quickens. 

You for whom action comes swiftly, 
as you chart the next step 
or bulldoze a new path yourself. 
You know how to turn hope into action.

And blessed are you who, 
when you’ve come to the end of what is possible, 
find the courage to live there too.

Blessed are we, who are learning 
how to hope. and how to let go. 
when to act. and when to stop. 

Balancing the impossibility of so much love 
and so much to fear.
Together.

Amen. 

    —-  Kate Bowler
Website, 2021

Kate Bowler, PhD, is an associate professor of the history of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity School. She is the author of Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (2013) which traces the history of the movement based on divine promises of health, wealth, and happiness.

After being unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35, she penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and other lies I’ve loved) (2018). This is her struggle to explore and  question the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character. 

Her newest book is No Cure for Being Human.

Dr. Bowler hosts a conversation on speaking frankly about suffering through her popular podcast, Everything Happens.