Harvest of Gratitude

Percival Chubb

Once more the fields have ripened to harvest, and the fruitful earth has fulfilled the promise of spring.

The work of those who labor has been rewarded: They have sown and reaped, planted and gathered.

How rich and beautiful is the bounty gathered: The golden grain and clustered corn, the grapes of purple and green,

The crimson apples and yellow pears, and all the colors of orchard and garden, vineyard and field.

Season follows after season, after winter the spring, after summer the harvest-laden autumn.

From bud to blossom, from flower to fruit, from seed to bud again, the beauty of earth unfolds.

From the harvest of the soil we are given occasion to garner a harvest of the heart and mind:

A harvest of resolve to be careful stewards of all life's gifts and opportunities.

A harvest of reverence for the wondrous power and life at work in things that grow, and in the soul.

A harvest of gratitude for every good which we enjoy, and of fellowship for all who are sustained by earth's beauty.

(Percival Chubb was an Ethical Culture Leader in England, in New York, and in St. Louis. The bust above is in the Ethical Society of St. Louis. Photograph and original computer format by Gene Speckert.)