An online resource from The Prayer Bench and used with permission
Focusing Thought Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth, gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries and honeybees, the trees that became this page, a bag of rice and the exuberance of a field of goldenrod and asters at full bloom.” (- “Returning the Gift”) Reflection Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond. As you ramble today, find a place that invites you to pause and soak up the atmosphere. Open your heart to earth loving you and let this be your prayer. The Practice Take a moment to read this poem "Blackberry Eating " by Galway Kinnell. You can also listen to it by clicking on this link: https://poets.org/poem/blackberry-eating I love to go out in late September among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries to eat blackberries for breakfast, the stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue, as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words like strengths or squinched, many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well in the silent, startled, icy, black language of blackberry-eating in late September. After your ramble, write your own poem, prayer or hymn of gratitude for a gift of Earth or blessing that you see around you. "Let us thank the Earth that offers ground for home And holds our feet firm To walk in space open To infinite galaxies." John O'Donohue
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Each Wednesday we send out an inspirational message.
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