The Breath

"Oh Great Spirit, holder and giver of the breath of all that lives. The 
two-leggeds who walk the Turtle's back. The four-legged ones who share this 
place and teach us to walk gently, taking only what we need. The 
belly-crawlers who know every blade of grass and grain of sand. The winged 
ones who give us the ability to see above the clouds. The standing talls, 
the stone lodge people that can teach us of the history of the sacred earth 
beneath our feet. The water that nourishes and cleanses the body. The sun 
that warms our flesh. The moon that lights our way and controls the tides.

Great Spirit, all these things you have given to us ... and yet we still 
stumble and fall. And yet you continue to be as a gentle parent, always 
forgiving and always loving. You have always been and will always be ...

The four winds sing to us and touch us with the breath, that we may know our 
past and learn from the old ones.

Great Spirit, I stand before you as a child, one just learning how to crawl. 
Teach me the way to walk a path of balance, joy and may my eyes only know 
the beauty that resides in all things made by you. Aho."

Wanda S. Ruffner, Sacred Breath