diversity

Cultivate gratitude each day this month.
Day 9:  Gratitude for Diversity

Scripture: Revelation 7:9 –– After this, I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count.

Reflection: Scripture describes different people as being diverse members of the same common body, with different strengths, gifts, and vulnerabilties. The beauty of our diverse world reflects God’s creativity. Embracing diversity deepens our understanding of gratitude.

Prompt: Reflect on who in your relationship circles experiences the world in a different way? What do such different perspectives bring to others’ view of the world? What do they teach you about perceiving the world from another angle or perspective? What in your life brings a different perspective to life?

SONGS:

• Differences by Genuwine: https://youtu.be/U_90XNCBatY?si=0fDMlki0S3bxFJWE

A Blessing with Roots — jan Richardson

Tug at this blessing
and you will find
it is a thing
with roots.

This is a blessing
that has gone deep
into good soil,
into the sacred dark,
into the luminous hidden.

It has been months
since the ground
gathered the seed
of this blessing
into itself,
years since the earth
enfolded it.

Sometimes
that’s how long
a blessing takes.

And the fact
that this blessing
should finally show
its first fruits
on the day
you happened by—

well, perhaps we shall
simply call the timing
of this ripening
a mystery
and a sweet grace.

Take all you want
of this blessing.
Take every morsel
that you need for
the path ahead.
Let its fruits fall
into your hands;
gather them into
the basket of
your arms.

Let this blessing
be one place
where you are willing
to receive
in unmeasured portions,
to lay aside
for a moment
the way you ration
your delights.

Let yourself accept
its inexplicable plenitude;
allow it to give itself
to sustain you

not simply for yourself—
though on this bright day
I might be persuaded
to think that would
be enough—

but that you may
gather its seeds
into yourself
like the ground
where this blessing began

and wait
with the patience
of seasons
and of years

to bear forth
in the fullness of time
a stunning harvest,
a plenteous feast