I belong to no one. I am so useful in many ways./ I quench thirst for the animals, the plants, the trees, and human beings.// If I should become contaminated, I will contaminate all living things that I come across running freely. I need protection. I am a living thing running freely.

Kinsale Drake

I have been thinking about the Holy. I have been thinking about how the Holy might be what connects us all with ourselves, each other, and our natural world. This poem reminds me that the Holy needs care and protection. Beyond simply paying attention, caring for and protecting one another and our natural world is fundamental.

I grew up on the Ohio River. I have thought about what I learned from the River. I thought a lot about the fossil bed on the River’s floor that tells an ancient story. I have thought about the role the River played in generations of my family. I have thought about what it meant to leave the River at different points in my life and to know the River is how I locate home.

We are all — people and nature — both mighty and fragile. Made of the stuff of fire and earth and water. Blessed with the weight of past, present, and future. I feel that when I am home on the River. There is green and brown and waves and stillness. There are specific sounds that I know when I hear them. I understand the meaning of sacred water. There is responsibility and true peace. There is the I am not yet — the we are not yet.