What is the blood of the earth? Is it the molten rock that lies far beneath us on this spinning surface? Or perhaps it is the sap in the trees that decorate the planet, growing from the rich and sometimes crusty surface we call home. But each of the animals carries their own blood as do we. Even the insects and jelly fish have a fluid that runs within their exoskeletons, or between their fleshy cells. I propose that it is as unassuming as the water that courses through the planet on so many levels, and that if the earth was to have a life fulfilling fluid, I suppose that is most obvious; it is water.

Water cleanses, brings life and carries nutrients. It is in the plants and we animals are made of a high percentage of this element. It falls from the sky and we think it beautiful, which is funny, because if our blood fell from the sky, I am sure most of the earth would agree this was a bad omen. Though there is much cruelty on the earth, it was still made by God or a power beyond what any of us can fathom, and the essence of it is seen as a sacred sign and a life fulfilling blessing. We are baptized in water, we must drink water to live, and our plants must be watered to feed us. Many peoples have settled by the sea to thrive from the life that lives beneath and within what fills and encompasses the surface of our home. Water is happy, water makes us clean, and life would not be possible without it.

Since a young age I have loved water. Swimming was a blessed and happy time, and as I have grown into adulthood, I enjoy baths exceptionally or going for a dunk in the Puget Sound. As a sensory child, this was my chosen element. I recall watching young children playing with toys in a water tub, eyes and skin filled with pleasure, lost in their action. Birds, dogs, humans, we all play in water. The blood of the earth carries us to a blissful place, and we feel connected, found, at home, and surrounded by blessing. The splashing of water carries negative ions which counteracts all sickness and pain which resides in our very cells. I would say that water is the essence of my home; it is the life fulfilling force of all of us and we remain connected through it. Many of us return to our routines that surround water at the end and beginning of the day. Water brings hope and it brings life.

Thank you for the water, for the earth, and for the essence that courses through us, be it water or ethos. I hope to be reminded of purity and cleansed raw hope every time I encounter water. Perhaps drinking that needed glass of water in the morning I can remind myself, I am drinking the blood of the world. Thank you, God for delivering me this world, with all of its flaws and all of its blessing. Thank you, blood for pulling us through.