Gifts

We can be more responsible humans by being aware of our actions and being aware that everything that we think, feel, and act upon has an impact upon the world. We have the capacity to be grateful and it is our responsibility to practice gratitude so that we can use the gifts that we have been bestowed by the Universe responsibly.

With our gifts come our responsibilities. We are gifted with the ability to build and to make structures, therefore our responsibility is to build smartly and with as little impact to the animals and plants and rocks and creatures and waters that we build in harmony with.

We are gifted with the ability to speak and to write, therefore our responsibility is to speak with love and gratitude and to write with love and gratitude.

We are gifted with the ability to live long lives, therefore our responsibility is to consider our impact upon the earth and the sky around us and how our presence adds to Mother Earth and Father Sky rather than takes away.

We have the gift of bearing children, therefore we are responsible to teach them how to love and how to live in harmony with the Earth rather than in opposition to Nature.

For today, think about what gifts you have and what responsibilities you have because of these gifts. You truly are a gift to the world!

*Inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer’s chapter on the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address in Braiding Sweetgrass.