Between two particles of soil,
small invisible relations
rise and fall, feast, party and toil -
complex cultures, cities, nations...

Slow dancing in the world's embrace,
entwined with what we hold most dear -
when all is gone without a trace,
the soil will know that we were here

The earth forever calls us home, and the "ground" of any true culture lies in the soil. It's that in-between common world of civilization and wild nature, that place where relationship is formed. It's where our human hands and feet marry mineral and plant, there in the world of microbes and insects, sun and rain.

The gateway of moving into heart space with nature is gratitude, and we can decide to bring more gratefulness into our lives and experience more joy. An excellent place within our daily rhythms to cultivate a steady stream of gratitude and to grow our connection with nature is in our relationship with our food.

We offer gratitude to the Life-giving Trees. You whose green breath sustains our breath. You who have created the atmosphere in which organic beings can thrive.  Thank you, trees for the music you make with the wind, for the way you gentle the rain into the earth, for your sheltering, protection and inspiration.

We offer Gratitude for sanctuary gardens, dedicated to the sacred, where there is safety for all beings. For those cultivated places where humans consciously co-create with Nature to bring beauty, healing, inspiration, peace, nourishment and remembrance. 

We offer gratitude to Ocean, the one great Ocean of the world, whom we call by so many names. Grandmother Ocean, thank you for Life! For the lives of our most ancient ancestors whom you cradled and fed, For the lives of all who came after, who stayed in your waters or ventured on land. For the lives of all the plants whom you water through the clouds, and for the  tiny phytoplankton who give us breath. We thank you Ocean, for the lives of all our relatives.