A Backyard Psalm
1When I look at the work of your hands in this place, I marvel and sing “Thanks!”
2You provide homes for your smallest creatures: The rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, voles and birds. The ticks, mosquitoes and ants. Worms, pill bugs, spiders and centipedes find safety, each in their own habitat.
3Living things find the food and water that you provide in abundance. Seeds, greenery, crawling and flying prey, algae and bacteria spread everywhere.
4Beauty crowns each morning and evening in flowers, tall grasses, towering trees and berry-filled bushes. Green things sing about their lives, and I echo their praise.
5Your surprises emerge to delight each day. New weeds, dill weed, known and unknown flowers, visiting foxes and hawks. New smells and colors. Small, wonder-filled animal stories.
6The birds gather in thick bushes to greet each other, to chatter and chortle about your gifts to them. They call out for me to join them.
7-8Soil and decaying compost combine to hold plants in their places, to secure lasting moisture, to offer necessary nutrients each day. Your seen and unseen creatures digest dirt to provide life. All of creation relies on the Earth’s topsoil.
9Your handiwork in this space rewards my senses. In smells, visions, sounds and textures. Berries, vegetables and edible flowers bring the joy of tasting to each meal.
10The entire life cycles of your creation run their course here. Each season of the year reminds me of the wonders of each part of my life. My birth and death. My prospering because of your providence.
11All this comes from your bountiful grace, your love for all of creation. All of its creatures. Each day in this small part of your world, you satisfy my soul.
12You alone are God. You have done well, so I will always praise your name!
(To receive these entries when they are posted, go to the upper right-hand corner of the top banner and click on the three dots or parallel lines. Scroll down to the subscription form and enter your information.)
