When this post goes live on my website, I will be on a cruise along the Rhine River in Europe, a region in which many of my ancestors lived in past centuries. As I prepare for this trip I have hoped to take for many years, I am reminded about my blog post from last November, before Thanksgiving.
So once again, I want to express how grateful I am for Mother Earth in all its glory and beauty.
For thousands of years, our beautiful planet has provided air we can breathe, food we can eat, and materials we can use for clothing, shelter, transport, and exploration. It often seems to me a miracle that, for millennia, the climate surrounding us on Mother Earth has wrapped us in her arms.
What Mother Nature Expects From Us
But as we have learned, nature expects humans to nurture that climate and all the living things it makes possible. For more than a century now, we have ignored that expectation. The result is today’s climate crisis that presents an existential threat to all living creatures and the very infrastructure of Mother Earth – the land masses, coastlines, glaciers, seas and rivers.
We must be mindful of all we owe to a climate that enables our planet to produce what we need to survive and thrive. I hope you’ll do what I’m doing this week and next by counting the blessings that prompt my deepest gratitude. I am grateful for:
- The view from atop an Adirondack mountain trail
- Sunrise over the Atlantic ocean
- The morning song of a Carolina Wren outside my window
- Warmth from the sun on a chilly winter day
- How my eyes and brain feel upon seeing peak autumn foliage
- The taste of fresh-caught rainbow trout
- A crisp Macintosh apple just pulled off the tree
- The first crocuses to sprout through cold earth in early spring
- All the turkeys who give their lives to grace our Thanksgiving tables with plenty
- The love of children, grandchildren, extended family and friends at this time and throughout the years.
My prayer – May all humans, wherever we are, feel and act with deep gratitude and vigilance toward our Mother Earth and all the life she bestows.
The medieval town of Cochem, along the Rhine River
