When I turned my Nikki McClure calendar page to March earlier this month, something about the image and the word provide caught my attention and wouldn't let go. I realized that provide is a complex and evocative word, so I set out to poll some friends on what it means to them and got a wide range of responses.
Weekend Meditation: Provide
For some, it spoke of duty and responsibility, a kind of parental or at least adult activity. For others, there was a sense of storing up, squirrel-like, for the future, thus evoking hint of primal anxiety. One friend found it very basic and comforting, kind of a cozy realm of jams and pickles and smoked hams. Another spoke of reciprocity and the cyclical way we support and provide for each other, and the important and often unnoticed way we are provided for by the natural world: air, food, shelter, beauty and inspiration.
It makes me think of cupboards and pantries and I was reminded of when I last visited my mother who is now living alone in the house she and my father built in 1960. I noticed that she continues to stock her cupboards in the same way she did when I was a child and we were a family of four living a typical middle century, middle class, middle west life. It was reassuring to see the peanut butter in the peanut butter place (lower right, bottom shelf) and the stacks of canned goods and soup packets.
And like my friends above, I also think of relationships and dependencies, and how much I take for granted the abundance of my well-stocked grocery store. In privileged societies, by which I mean those who have a trustworthy and secure source of food, we often forget that this incredible abundance is not available to all. The intent here is not guilt, but a suggestion that appreciation and even reverence is not inappropriate when encountering those vast pyramids of potatoes and eight different kinds of apples.
Like the child in the calendar image, it's important to participate fully in the cycle of giving and receiving and allowing both to have their place in our lives. May the many ways you provide and are provided for be rich and apparent this weekend. May you be given a fist-full of dandelions (or perhaps a more seasonally appropriate kale?) and in turn, offer a nourishing and delicious soup.
(Image from Nikki McClure's 2008 Wall Calendar. Used with permission. The calendar is still available through Buy Olympia.)
Comments (5)
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Dear Dana, I love the blog you provide for us. I enjoy what the universe provides for me and I offer this in response. Love, Lee
PROVIDE: On “The Hunger Site†all that needs doing is a “Click†and a variety of sponsors donates funds to feed hungry people all over the world.
YOUR CLICKS COUNT! Since The Hunger Site began in 1999, funding has been provided for more than 500,000,000 cups of food for hungry people world wide.
http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1
Hunger: Do You Know The Facts?
It is estimated that one billion people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition. That's roughly 100 times as many as those who actually die from these causes each year. About 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. This is down from 35,000 ten years ago, and 41,000 twenty years ago. Three-fourths of the deaths are children under the age of five.
Famine and wars cause about 10% of hunger deaths, although these tend to be the ones you hear about most often. The majority of hunger deaths are caused by chronic malnutrition. Families facing extreme poverty are simply unable to get enough food to eat.
The Hunger Site began on June 1, 1999. In 1999, a year marked by good economic news, 31 million Americans were food insecure, meaning they were either hungry or unsure of where their next meal would come from. Of these Americans, 12 million were children.
view truedharma's profile
The last line you wrote sums up for me what provide really is about. "May you be given a fist full of dandelion's, and in turn offer up a delicious and nourishing soup"... So much packed into one sentence.
The concept of nourishment from the dandelion's, the take what you are given and turning it into an offering.. the basic idea of receiving.
Lots to chew on with this one.
Thanks Dana
view Daigan's profile
What a lovely meditation! It reminds me not to take for granted what I receive or give, or what I can give! Thanks for sharing this and the gorgeous calendar page!
view OneWallKitchen's profile
Aww, I love dandelions! Does anyone have any good recipes using them? I once had a dandelion vinagrette and it was so good I wish I could figure out how to make it.
view EastVillageAmy's profile
I was looking at the same calendar page this morning while writing.
I began by counterpointing 'provide' with 'offer'. Initially they seemed to be interchangeable (as they often are in business writing).
But as I continued to write, a distinction appeared. Provision (provisions) connotes a sense of accumulation (stockpiling provisions, stocking one's larder) while offer (offering) implies a giving away or offering up.
But both offer and provide nourish us. Now there's a word...!
view socalgal's profile