A Thanksgiving prayer to share

Back when I did my radio show, I looked forward each year to reading “A Gardener’s Thanksgiving” by the Rev. Max Coots with either Mickey Gazaway from Pike Nursery or Ashley Frasca from WSB. We would read alternate lines of the prayer and end with a moment of silence.

I imagine Coots working in his garden and, seized by a moment of whimsy, penning the words below. Surrounded by the products of his garden, he knew the “personality” of each of the fruits and vegetables before him. He realized that some of his parishioners matched what they ate. This helps to read in its entirety by one person or by 13 people, each reading one verse. Consider bringing the reverend to your Thanksgiving dinner and reading the following lines:

“Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:

For children who are our second planting, and though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgive us our cultivation and fondly remember where their roots are;

For generous friends with hearts 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 other, plain as potatoes and as good for you;

For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels 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;