Inspiration Moments

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people.

For children who are our second planting,
and though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away,
may they remember fondly where their roots are.

For generous friends with hearts as big as hubbards,
and smiles as bright as blossoms;

For feisty friends as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions, keep reminding us that we've had them;

For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;

For funny friends, as silly as brussel sprouts.

And serious friends, as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;

For friends as unpretentious as cabbages

And friends, like parsnips, who can be counted on to see you through the winter;

For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time

And young friends coming on as fast as radishes;

For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us, despite our blights, wilts, and witherings;

And, finally, for those friends now gone, but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;

For this bounty of friends, we give thanks.

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine."