I learned something new recently. In truth, I learn something new every day, but this one really made me think. Do you know what’s special about the “land of milk and honey”, why that phrase has so much significance? It’s because both milk and honey are rare foods in that nothing must die to produce them.
The land of “milk and honey” symbolizes paradise, and wouldn’t it be paradise when things that fill one human being don’t entail the emptiness for another? It seems that a lot of our world encompasses one person or one part of society benefiting while another loses. For example, we love cheap shoes, but they come at the expense of cheap labor.
The Book of Common Prayer includes a prayer for the Harvest of Land of Waters. In it we say, “ save us from our selfish use of what thou givest.” Every time we acquire something at the cost of another’s chance to thrive, we are diminished.
During Lent we learn to remember the connection of all people and to see that our welfare is connected to the welfare of all others. We learn to be nourished – physically, spiritually, and emotionally – without harming anyone else. We pray to prosper, but not when someone else must die or suffer to see that happen.
Grant us grace to live so that our fullness does not come at the expense of another’s emptiness.
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