by Kim Vanderheiden
note: This prayer was inspired by Anne Symmens-Bucher, co-founder of Canticle Farm, who reminds me and everyone that most, if not all, of our experiences are both blessed and broken.
Sun kisses Earth with warm blessing.
Rain embraces each tiny grain of soil.
The farmer’s plow breaks the field open.
Blessed and broken, the land yields itself and feeds us.
At the edge of a river, once, You stood,
You whose shoulders sunlight kissed
as gently as a dove. You plunged in.
The river embraced each molecule of Your Being.
You saw our hearts, though some disguised them.
We tried to make You broken like us.
You healed, You forgave, You restored, You Lived.
Blessed and broken, yielding Yourself, You feed us.
Oh, let us see You! Let us feel Your warm blessing.
Surround each particle of our beings. Hold us together.
Break out of Your hiding place in each person before us,
That we may gaze, astonished, as at a newborn child.
Thank You for the blessing.
Thank You for the breaking.
Guide us in the planting and the growing,
that all may be one in the song of the harvest.
Amen.