Thanksgiving

Last night, cooking for Rasheed & myself, I realized (not simply “thought,” but fully, forcefully [mentally, spiritually, bodily with every ounce of marrow] realized) that God has given us everything we need for health and happiness. I have more and more frequently in the last few years felt an increasing thankfulness for the good - nurturing, protective, healing, restorative qualities - in the foods God has given us, but last night, pausing over my dinner prep - the range of greens in the wakame, the asparagus, the green cabbage; the clean country rain-wet scent of the freshly cut carrots and the zing of the ginger - was the first time that I felt this staggering gratitude for what God (or Great Spirit, Allah, Yhwh, Supreme Being, Brahma or whatever name you know Him, Her by, speakable or not) has given us. Staggering gratitude, but sadness, too: God has given us everything we need, but we have pushed for more, we have thrown the balance off, poisoning ourselves with pesticides, GMOs, etc. While I have now more than ever tried to eat organic for my health, hoping to avoid these contaminants, it has until last night been science. Last night, it became an understanding of God's gift: He has given me everything I need to restore my health. And I thought: "this is Thanksgiving." Every day, every meal, I will approach with thanksgiving.