Well, we've done it. We've made it through half the year. It's July 1 and I hope you have a stack of things done so far that you can be proud of.
Here's today on the Pacific Coast at So Cal.
Today my eye kept moving me to look at this break in the clouds over land, but there is some hint of the sea there in the lower right. Another one of those "golden" mornings.
Over the sea however, there are two "blankets," one floating above, and some light fog you see topping the horizon line.
It's very warm and humid. I am sure that my Tampa-resident daughter would fall down laughing at that remark, thinking this level of humidity is great for hanging towels on the clothesline; but so it goes for chaparral dwellers.
It's been a while since I've given you all something inspirational of practical use to use, so let me take today give you this in case you find yourself being nominated to offer thanks for a meal, especially a crowd. It's more formal than "God is great, God is good, now we thank him for our food." And it's long enough to feel important, but not too long that people start listening to each others stomach rumbles:
Lord Christ, we pray thy mercy on our table spread,
And what thy gentle hands have given thy men
Let it by thee be blessed: what'er we have
Came from thy lavish heart and gentle hand,
And ye that eat, give thanks for it to Christ,
And let the words ye utter be only peace,
For Christ loved peace: it was himself that said
Peace I give unto you, my peace I leave with you,
Grant that our own may be a generous hand
Breaking the bread for all poor men, sharing the food,
Christ shall receive the bread thou gavest the poor,
And shall not tarry to give thee reward.
--Alcuin of York (734-804)
Alcuin, aka Flaccis Albinus Alcuinus, invented the handwriting style Caroline (his boss was Charlemagne) which was one of the first to use both upper- and lowercase letters improving the readability of books; I guess, like us, he thought THIS WAS ANNOYING TO READ AND SEEMED LIKE SHOUTING.
It's the 8th century in the court of Charlemagne so noninclusive language was in style back then. But even so, I suspect when Alcuin prayed this, it was probably all guys around that table so nobody felt that left out most likely. Given the sentiment expressed, I AM SURE they sent their doggie bags out the back door of the castle to the beggars...
Thank you for Alcuin for that table grace, which I have heard in substance countless times, but said so well here. English did NOT look like this in the 8th century, so I'm sure there's a translator's hand on this, and that person obviously had a King Jamesian bent, but artful nonetheless--so thank you too.
Love and Peace,
Pops
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Be truthful and frank, but be polite. If you use excessive profanity, I'll assume you have some kind of character flaw like Dr. Wong. Tks!