REFLECTIONS

Let us give thanks:
For generous friends... with hearts as big as hubbards
and smiles as bright as their blossoms
For feisty friends as tart as apples,
For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers,
keep reminding us that we've had them,
For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible,
For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants
and as elegant as a row of corn,
And the others, as plain as potatoes and so good for you,
For funny friends, who are as silly as brussel sprouts
and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes,
And serious friends, as complex as cauliflowers
and as intricate as onions.
For friends as unpretentious as cabbages,
As subtle as summer squash,
As persistent as parsley,
As delightful as dill,
As endless as zucchini,
And who, like parsnips, can be counted on to see you through the
winter,
For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time
And young friends coming on as fast as radishes,
For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us,
despite our blights, wilts, and witherings,
And, finally, for those friends now gone,
like gardens past that have been harvested,
but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter.
For all these, we give thanks. Amen."

Written by Max Coots
Minister Emeritus of the Canton, New York
Unitarian Universalist Church