Grace Before Meals

Between thinking if i should write and actually writing… 

Boy! there are months… At the moment the rate is one blog a year. Am not setting up any expectations for myself so lets see where it goes. 

Grace before meals! 

Its pretty much like everyone else's prayer. Blessing the food; praying for nourishment; blessing the hands that made it - you know the drill. 

I try to extend the gratitude in my grace. I would think about the farmers and the merchants and the several people that had to do so much to get this on my table. So i added, “and we thank all those people who worked so hard to get the food to us” . 

As a shamanic practitioner, you believe “All things are alive. Everything is energy”. As you dive into understanding this simple statement, you learn an incredible philosophy of life - “Everything is alive!” Therefore, you respect and even love all the things around you. You start seeing things that you have never seen in a common grain field. 

Over the years I had gone on and tweaked my grace before meals from ‘hard work’ to  ‘sacrifice’ .

“Thank you for all those who sacrificed so much to get this to our table and may they be blessed always”. Of course the word sacrifice is very strong. 

Now, you and I, we do know the meaning and can imagine what it could have been. However, a few days ago …….I got to see this ‘sacrifice' .

Its been pouring for the last few days here in Goa . The fields on the way to the kids school was busy with farmers - one day weeding, the next day tilling and on a not so rainy day, I saw them sowing. I am told this is the right time for paddy. When I saw them sowing the seeds, there was one thought - which was about the parable of the seed - from the bible. The second was on faith. Grandpa David used to say that the farmer is the true example of faith. He sows, waits and prays for the right amount of rain, sun and for the earth to bring forth the harvest. He has to trust. 

The empty can is used as a drum to ward the birds away 

But he does not sit idle …. He is busy shooing the birds away from eating the seeds that are sown! Good old farmers of Goa. They took shifts to do this while it rained and rained. My point is - we take things for granted. This is just one of the  things, i know, but its a good place to start. 

It may not be so bad if we can send a silent prayer for their good health. 

Even better, come up with a better way for them to cope through this maybe?