I have been thinking about the idea of respecting and honoring the life taken for the nourishment I get when I eat. It is easy for me to see a chicken breast on my plate and know that a chicken was killed for my food. I can understand that and I can feel thankful for that animal giving its life so that I might live. When I was a little girl, I don’t think I was as aware as I am now, but I always had an idea that the meat I ate came from animals. It never really bothered me, but as I have grown older, I have gained a new appreciation for those animals and the fact that they give their lives so that I might live. When I thank God for the food I eat, I should remember the animal that died so that I could live.
However, I realize it goes so much deeper than all that and I really didn’t understand it until this week. There’s so much more on my plate than just meat. All the rest of the food I eat comes from plants in some way or another. These living plants often also give up their lives so that I might live. I had never realized that a living thing was dying so that I could live and it was happening all the time. I never realized how thankful I should be for the plants that give me so much life and sustain me in so many ways.
I spoke to my husband about this idea. He told me that in Native American cultures, they often worship Mother Earth. They thank her for giving them food and sustaining them. They see the entire Earth as a being that they should honor and respect. Every time they take a plant from the Earth, they give thanks to the Earth for the bounty and honor that gift that the Earth has given to them.
In many pagan religions, there is a god or goddess of the Earth. People used to see the Earth as a living thing and treated it as such. Maybe if we had continued to do so, we wouldn’t be in the trouble we are now with global warming and pollution. I feel bad that it took me this long to realize how important the Earth really is and how it has sustained me and my life all these years. I’ve tried not take things for granted and to be thankful for my life, but I have had blinders on when it comes to the Earth and all the plants. The Earth and plants are priceless without them I would surely die and yet I didn’t think about honor them when I eat.
Today, I ask God for forgiveness because I didn’t understand the amazing gift He has given me in the Earth and all the plants. I hope that I will find a way to honor and respect the very things that have nourished and sustained me all the days of my life. I thank God for the miracles gifts that He has provided me and how He has shown me that we truly are all connected to one another.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
