Hi God,
I was supposed to do a prayer yesterday,
but it’s already today, so that won’t happen.
How ‘bout I write a prayer
about yesterday?
I can say what I’d have said
were I at a computer yesterday.
Some things I did, in fact say,
things directed your way,
albeit not in digital form.
So it’s July, my favorite month.
I like July because it’s usually hot
—unlike some we might mention, I like hot—
and also because I was born in July.
Earlier this past week I reached a milestone, so to speak.
I went from being 111111 to being 1000000.
In other words, I’m a million,
at least in binary.
Thank you for all those years.
Ah…but yesterday,
yesterday was pure July,
the July that makes me love it so.
We went on a mission of mercy, so to speak,
up to my in-laws.
It seems that their raspberries
are crying out to be picked.
My in laws are getting a bit infirm
and can’t pick so easily themselves.
My mother-in-law gets cranky if the berries go unpicked.
I’m not sure the berries care, but she surely does.
Anyway, we went and met up with
our sister (in-law) and niece.
I had the most blessed time,
under the hot sun,
in among the brambles,
chatting occasionally with Hazel, Sue and ‘Becca;
picking berries; dropping them in a pail.
Sometimes dropping them on the ground.
That made me think about Boaz and Ruth.
One is supposed to leave some of the harvest
behind for the gleaners.
I don’t know who gleans berry patches,
but probably some little furry critters crawl in
looking for a feast.
So glad to have been of help.
And now we also have a feast.
My mother-in-law needs the berries to be picked
but doesn’t actually need the berries herself.
She sent almost all of them home with us
and with our co-pickers, Sue and ‘Becca.
Some 16 quarts in all, I believe.
So my prayer today is to thank you for July,
for berries and for family with whom to share
little tasks and little treats.
Also to thank you for giving me
the opportunity, from time to time,
to notice explicitly
how truly blessed I am.
Also, please do have mercy on my soul,
sinner though I be.
Amen.