Our master gardener,
keeper of the flora and fauna,
the plants and the people,
help us to remember
that we are meant to nurture and nourish
one another
in this great dance
of giving and receiving,
living and dying–
for we are interdependent,
intended for harmony,
each contributing to your glory.
Psalm 104: 14-31 Oh yes, God brings grain from the land, wine to make people happy, their faces glowing with health, a people well-fed and hearty. God’s trees are well-watered–the Lebanon cedars he planted. Birds build their nests in those trees; look–the stork at home in the treetop. Mountain goats climb about the cliffs; badgers burrow among the rocks. The moon keeps track of the seasons, the sun is in charge of each day. When it’s dark and night takes over, all the forest creatures come out. The young lions roar for their prey, clamoring to God for their supper. When the sun comes up, they vanish, lazily stretched out in their dens. Meanwhile, men and women go out to work, busy at their jobs until evening. What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations. Oh, look–the deep, wide seas, brimming with fish past counting, sardines and sharks and salmon. Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them. All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around: you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they’d die in a minute–take back your spirit and they die, revert to original mud; send out your spirit and they spring to life–the whole countryside in bloom and blossom. The glory of God–let it last forever! Let God enjoy his creation!
Psalm 65: 9-13 Oh, visit the earth, ask her to join the dance! Deck her out in spring showers, fill the God-Rive with living water. Paint the wheat fields golden. Creation was made for this! Drench the plowed fields, soak the dirt clods with rainfall as harrow and rake bring her to blossom and fruit. Snow-crown the peaks with splendor, scatter rose petals down your paths, all through the wild meadows, rose petals. Set the hills to dancing, dress the canyon walls with live sheep, a drape of flax across the valleys. Let them shout, and shout, and shout! Oh, oh, let them sing!
Our Master Gardener, 