cast your nets in familiar waters,
empty, time and again,
yet you look on the other side,
where there are whispers of abundance,
where the deep holds more than you dared hope.

in the soil beneath your feet,
ancient voices speak,
telling you to listen, to honor,
to remember the land as more than dirt,
as more than resource,
as kin, as life, as memory.

you have taken too much,
drunk from rivers that now run dry,
hunted the Earth until she wept,
yet still, she offers her hand,
still, she whispers—
there is another way.

to survive is to remember,
to reclaim the wisdom buried deep,
in the roots of the trees,
in the songs of the wind,
in the stories of those who came before,
who knew the Earth as mother,
who walked gently, who loved fiercely.

you are called to feed the sheep,
not only with bread,
not only with grain,
but with justice, with love,
with a vision of a world where all are fed,
where all are seen,
where all are honored.

in the silence of the dawn,
when the world is still and the sky blushes with light,
you find the strength to begin again,
to cast your nets, to sow new seeds,
to believe in the abundance that is promised,

if only you dare to trust,
if only you dare to see.
for survival is not just to endure,
but to thrive, to flourish,
to sing with the Earth,
to dance with the rain,
to know that you are part of this sacred web,
connected, interwoven,
bound together in this place.

and so, you begin again,
with the sun, with the moon, with the stars,
with the earth beneath our feet,
you begin again,
to survive,
to thrive.

God, we offer these gifts, given for the healing of creation, to you. Bless them and us to support the survival and thriving of all creation. Amen.

Written by Dr. Geran Lorraine.