A Breath of Thanks

Choose a few things or better, one

for your table or altar.

Choose one thing.

Fall in love with its singularity, its rarity,

the way it gazes back at you.

Leave the cornucopia for another time,

a time for hunger and wanting.

Fall in love with the singular beauty of one flower

opening to you.

Leave the exuberant sweetness of a bouquet

for another day, or the too rich menu calling you,

for another day.

Make your meal a fragrant bowl of light.

Gathered from earth, a scent, color and texture

refreshing the senses,

filling your deeper hunger.

Agree with your spirit to move from wanting to filling the true need,

the need of gratitude for life itself..

for your life in particular.

A deeper waiting, a knowing calling you.

Remember again the prayer from childhood,

spoken to the food to be blessed,

always waiting before partaking,

with a breath of thanks.

A privileged moment, to regard those not blessed in the same way.

We enlarged the meaning from the guilt-tinged thanks of youth

to the fuller gratitude of years,

having learned compassion for life’s uncertainty.

Grace is knowing the gifts of life

always flow into and out of our presence,

whether we acknowledge or deny them…

It is trusting in the ever-present generosity of life, steadfast,

even gifts we wish would pass us by.

Be grateful before receiving the gifts to come, arms wide open.

The breath of your spirit will fill you,

will thank you.

The body, once distrusting, or ill with fear,

now willingly loosens, opens, receives what it needs.

Simply follow the rose petals on the path ahead some stranger left for you,

understanding the need you or some traveler would have

for its fragrance and beauty, filling a need

for encouragement of the heart.

Grace is the gift.

Gratitude is the way.

© Sophia Murphy