To the beings in my circle, thank you for YOU. You grace me with your presence. You bring joy and love. Whether you are humans or animal or bird, your uniqueness captivates and celebrates the resilient power of life. May I contribute back to you my care and love for you, my gratitude for you. I will always work for your well being.

For the beings whom I have not yet encountered, may I offer you a place to be heard and valued. May I learn from you the understandings you bring to me and to our world.

Jane

There is no substitute for you, Dear Water. You are the universal solvent. How ever you landed on our tilted planet, i am grateful.   Everything here would not BE without you.

Every cell in my body thanks you. When i take my vitamins, or step into the shower, or float in a hotspring pool,   I sing your praises :  “ Thank you Water, cleansing, powerful, healing, changing – thank you.    Oh Beautiful Water, life-giving Water … I love you Water.  Thank you Water .”

I savor, cherish , and bless you. When i encounter you in any form,  i make this covenant: ” I see you….. I celebrate you….. I’m sorry for any harm i’ve caused you….. please forgive me….. Thank you….. I love you….. I pledge to be more mindful of you and all your Kin.”

blessings,

karla crescenta

From Laurel Hardin

Chair Earth Justice Ministry

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix

Above is a “picture” I painted a long time ago.  As I live in Arizona, where water is a scarce, much wrangled over commodity/substance, I titled it “Precious”.  It is from a photo I took in Ramsey Canyon in Southern Arizona.  You may find more info and pictures about it online.  It is a watercolor painting. 

And here is my love letter:

Silence Solitude Space to wander, think, observe, realize that there is so much

more out there than my small self. Soil- with bugs and worms, fungi and

microrhyzal networks that I am just learning about, and want to be good friends

with. A walk in the forest where biomass had been collected moved me to tears.

The gouges in the soil by large equipment felt like bombed areas, holes deep

enough that when I stood in the bottom, my head didn’t reach the top. Sadness

for the roots and trees ripped out of their homes. A realization that they needed

my help.

Soft water floating downstream. Carrying life to my carrots and tomatoes-

peaches and figs. Pecans and grapefruit. Lettuce and arugula. Loving them is

part of loving myself. We are what we eat. Compost rather than trash.

Paper. How valuable for recording and sharing thoughts, opinions, wishes, hopes.

Books where we learn to empathize with others- read other’s lives, energies,

wisdom.

Laurel

Dear Animals of the Earth,

I have loved you my whole life. Each one of you, for who you are and why you came to be.

You clean and populate the sky, the waters, and the land we carelessly pollute and take for granted. I am in awe and wonder of your beauty and for your unwavering focus and purpose of why you share our earth.

In return we have used, abused, and wiped out many of your species.

We humans need to learn what it means to be good stewards for all the animals on this earth before it’s too late. We will not survive without you.

I am grateful for all you do to help us humans every day.

I will continue to educate and fight for you always. I am so grateful to share this earth with all of you. I hope one day soon all the animals of the earth will be given the due compassion and respect you deserve by everyone.

My Undying Love to you,

Rose

Rose Reina-Rosenbaum, a longtime member of our Green Sanctuary Committee at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Somerset Hills in NJ.

Dear Earth,

Dear birdsong,

I want to keep hearing you, I want to keep hearing you in all your glorious variety. I hear one bird

mostly, I think it’s a red headed finch, perhaps known as a house finch. And I used to see

chickadees, I’m hoping to see more of those in my backyard.

I love your song. Your songs. I love sitting on my deck, walking through the park, hiking at

Rabbit Mountain, and hearing you all around. I loved it when my brother said, while we were on

the phone together, am I hearing a bird through the phone? Oh, yes, I said, it is a very happy,

celebratory bird!

And now I learned that your song is going quieter. In places all around the world. And I notice

that while in years past, I’ve had to escort lots of spiders outside (they loved to come in out of

the cold), this year there have hardly been any.

I am seeing the loss in diversity. I am hearing recordings that show that birdsong is lessening,

creeks are drying up, and I can see for myself that spiders are not as plentiful.

I love you in all your diversity, your color, your plumage. I love you in all the ways you present

yourself, and I will do what I can, I will put all my talents and skills at your service, may my work

be to your benefit.

I hope to hear much more from you in the future.

I hope my kids and grandkids can hear you as they grow old.

I hope that cats stay away and that you can have your babies soar through the sky, light upon

branches in aspen or apple, and sing out how beautiful the world is.

I write this, realizing that I am finding a new path. A new path of passion, of love, of

commitment. Like never before. It will be my privilege and honor to work on your behalf. I do not

know what it looks like yet, but I am looking forward to getting to know you better. Like never

before. And loving you. Writing about you. Walking and hearing you and sensing you. Soar my

friends, soar and may your song soar with you, never to be silenced, only to be enjoyed and fill

the universe with beauty and sound.

Yours,

Carol

PS How does love lead me to action?

Combine Love with any action, let it be the motivating factor.

Gratitude helps regulate our nervous system.

Dear Linden,

I love having you as my neighbor, source of delicious fragrance in spring, shade in summer, perch for birds and squirrels, grower and shedder of many leaves that disappear slowly back into the earth. I hope that you continue to flourish in the coming years, continuing to provide all these gifts, and being appreciated by all your neighbors, human and nonhuman. I hope you feel our appreciation, my love and care, and the presence of your Linden friends and other trees. Your beauty gladdens me, delights me, inspires me. Thank you for being here right outside my home.

Love,

mibu

Dear Flora,

You are nothing less than miraculous.

You have existed on planet Earth for at least half a billion years.

You come in every conceivable size and shape – texture and color.

From your mighty oak – host to over 900 species of caterpillar to your much-maligned dandelion – provider of nectar for early spring pollinators.

You change throughout the season.

You are terrestrial; you are aquatic.

You provide shelter, habitat and clothing.

You restore health.

You create shade and cooling.

Your roots are essential for creating, retaining and nourishing the soil.

You sequester carbon.

You dazzle with your vibrant colors, intoxicating fragrances and intricate blooms.

You forge symbiotic relationships.

You create the diversity in our landscapes of forests, jungles, prairies, woodlands, wetlands, meadows, gardens and countless other ecosystems.

You are the cornerstone of the food web.

You do nothing less than sustain life on earth.

And yet, for all you do to sustain precious lives, we have taken you for granted.

We have not treated you with kindness.

We have assaulted you with chemicals and bulldozers.

We have slashed and burned you.

We have introduced invasive species that try to out-compete you in your native habitats.

We have poisoned the soil and the waters that should nourish you.

We have irrevocably altered your climate and threatened many of your species to the point of extinction.

For that, I am profoundly sorry.

And yet, I feel joy and wonder whenever I am in your presence.

You have adopted heroic survival strategies.

You can regenerate.

You can rise from the ashes

You have learned to adapt.

You can move.

You can disperse your seeds wide and far in many ingenious ways.

You are the symbol of growth, renewal and resilience.

You are ceaseless in your abundance and generosity.

For that, plant kingdom, I am profoundly grateful.

Lauren Randolph

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Somerset Hills in NJ

Green Sanctuary Team and Master Gardener