rice of life

every sunday, we eat bread -- to remind us that god is as close & necessary as chewing & swallowing.

in thailand, where i'm going in a couple days, it's rice:
when you want to go eat, you say, bai gin kaow, which means, let's eat rice.

and what have any of us ever done to deserve the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe? it's so darned human to think we get what we deserve; to think we can coast along on our plenty of good intentions, doing the best we can, and things will balance out. in thailand, this happens to fit into the buddhist system of pun (merit).

but what have any of us ever done to deserve what we get?

oh christ, be as close & necessary to us there, too...

i can't help thinking of all the dear thai friends who have shared their rice with me, some even giving me bags of good farm grain to smuggle back to canada when i return!

oh lord, be as generous to them as they are to me.