When I begin to bless this food
and close my eyes I lose myself
first just in green: how
do leaves grow themselves this
green and how do they
grow at all to be so large and
how do they make themselves from
soil which in itself is only brown and
sunlight helps and water but
how is the end of this, green? How
can I bless this food? It blesses me.
Thank you, I say, for this bowl
which also is field, this green
which is meal before
I eat. Thank you, I say,
that this green becomes me.
Thank you for mysteries, this life.
by Nancy Shaffer, interim associate minister for religious education, Unitarian Church of Evanston, Illinois and CLF member, from her meditation manual Instructions in Joy. This volume was published by Skinner House in 2002, and is available from the UUA bookstore or 800-215-9076 or from the CLF library or 617-948-6150.
