Meditation on spring

From the March 15 Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship:

I. Opening Words: By Wendell Berry

Through the weeks of deep snow
We walked above the ground
on fallen sky, as though we did
not come of root and leaf, as though
we had only air and weather
for our difficult home.

But now
as March warms, and the rivulets
run like birdsong on the slopes,
and the branches of light sing in the hills,
slowly we return to earth.

II. Meditation: By Laurie Stuart

Indeed, slowly we return to earth.
We breathe a sigh of relief as winter
unlocks its grip from our landscape,
from our footpaths,
from the fear in our hearts that somehow
the cold and the snow will spin our lives
out of control,
leaving us
with the wreck of the world,
without the ability
to make our way,
to feed ourselves, clothe
ourselves, fend away doubt
and all of the niggling details
that are sure to be our downfall.

Indeed, slowly we return to earth and to this
community which has the ability
to support us, despite
the world economy, despite
environmental degradation, a haven
of spirit and love available always,
as long as we remember.

Remember that it is available to us.
Remember it is available for us.
Remember that we can equally be
the source as well as the culmination,
part and parcel of the ebb and flow.

Remembering that we are
ourselves a part of some whole
that exists beyond us,
through us
giving to us, and receiving from us
our thanks and blessings.