Prayer for Our Earth

A man without ambition is dead.

A man with ambition but no love is dead.

A man with ambition and love

for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive.
--Pearl Bailey

This day brings opportunity—just like every other day—to decide what I am going to focus on. I *think* I am pretty much an optimist. Even so, it is not easy to notice when I am giving my energy and attention in ways that is counterproductive. 

I am blessed to receive a daily message from David Bloyd. I have never met David, but learned of his email messages through a writer friend/colleague from Florida. This morning, David's opening is a quotation by Jarod Kintz, "One of my main regrets in life is giving considerable thought to inconsiderate people." 

David mentions Kintz had most likely made a play on a statement by Bernard Baruch about people: “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.”  David goes on to say we spend a lot of time concerning ourselves about those who cause us grief of one kind or another, when all that does is consume our time and energy. 

Have you noticed the way hindsight often provides appreciation for things that are challenging in the moment? In the Vipassana practice, the encouragement is to abandon the unwholesome and cultivate the wholesome. Wednesday's Wholesome Thought entitled "Both Ends" says we can end up giving our energy to the things we don't want. 

Later today I am honored to offer the following interfaith "prayer for our earth" at the Earth Day celebration:

Creator of Life—you who are nameless yet known by many names. You are the source of All That Is, present with us here now and for all time.

Great Spirit, we hear you singing through the pines.

Holy One, we see you when the full moon hides her face behind the clouds.

Earth Mother, your beauty delights us.

Pachamama, you provide for our every need.

Thankfully, you bless our good intentions, and forgive our ignorance of the holiness of the ground beneath our feet.

Heavenly Father, from a distance the world looks black and white, but things are not as they appear, for just as surely as each finger on a hand is related to nose and eye and fist and beating heart, we—like you—are related to all creation.

Allah. Buddha. Christ. Jehovah. Krishna. Yahweh.

Beloved. Infinite. Higher Power. Source.

We gather not to set ourselves apart from one another or from our planet, but to share the truth as spoken by Mother Teresa: "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

We gather not to worship either hollow images or sacred teachings.

We gather to celebrate each expression of divine love in the world.

Blessed be.

And so it is!

Aho.

Amen.

The song "count your blessings" is running through my head as my fingers play across the keyboard…If you are not familiar with it, or even if you are, you may enjoy having the melody in your heart now, too!