The Harvest Prayer

(Anonymous 17th Century Sermon)


Please be gentle with yourself and others
We are all children of chance

And none can say why some fields blossom
While others lay brown beneath the harvest sun

Take hope that your season will come
Share the joy of those whose season is at hand

Care for those around you
Look past your differences

Their dreams are no less than yours
Their choices in life no more easily made

And give,
Give in any way you can
Give in every way you can
Give whatever you possess
Give from your heart

To give is to love
To withhold is to wither

Care less for the size of your harvest
Than for how it is shared

And your life will have meaning
And your heart will have peace



(This came to me in San Miguel D’Allende, 2003)