Today we explore our connection to the ‘vine’, a metaphor used to illustrate both the source and the movement of our lives. There is both a sense of the source of life in the root of the vine, as well as the purpose of bearing fruit. And what an interesting image to place alongside a day when we focus upon motherhood… the bringing to birth of each one of us. The curious image of motherhood is one which bids us to return to our roots, the source of our own being, from generation to generation. Interestingly, Barb Adams, in her image “The Land Remembers” does just this same thing, as the tree stands at the surface of the earth, the roots stretch well below into the layers of earth, the myriad of stories echoed in the shades and levels of the landscape. Curiously, in one level of the earth, there is a line of books, expressing the story held within the layers. This moment in which you and I live and breathe, is not just a moment, but is held in the eternal story of creation. We do not spring from nothing. We are born from the larger story of humanity, the hint of which we see in our mothers. There is a much larger more complex vine, which takes us back to the source of life.

Come, Creator,

parent of all,

and unite with all the earth community

around the sacred story of creation,

and help us to recall:

the first fresh breath of life,

the first hint of your presence,

the first song in the dawn

that opened our souls to you

and taught us to honour our days,

and live!