Holy Mystery

All summer there was no rain.  Everything that needed rain suffered.  Some of it died.  The nearby river was so low that in places people were walking across in knee deep water.  More recently, rain has come in flooding measures.  The ground has gone beyond the saturation point.  The nearby branch which has been without water for so long is now like a mountain stream as the backed up water races to get from where it is to where it needs to go.  And, the river down the road is out of its banks.  Actually, out of its bank is a poor way to speak of the now broad and deep flowing waters.

 

The creation has modeled extremes this year.  It has modeled the power of the drought and the power of the flood.  Creation is not the keeper of moderation.  It is a power that is beyond human control.  It is a power that is apart from us and not dependent upon us.  It is ongoing.  It has always been since the divine Words brought it into being.  And, it shall always be wild and unpredictable, and likely as not, to overwhelm the boundaries that mark what is safe and secure. 

 

To watch and contemplate the flooded river as it runs it's course from trickling stream to the wide ocean is to be brought to an awareness that as powerful as it appears to be, it is only a mere stream when compared to the unleashed power of the Almighty Creating God of the universe who brought it and everything else into being.  Certainly, it is not easy to understand the Creator God who allows rivers to dry up when the land is thirsty and to flood when bottom land is ready for harvest.  Despite all our scientific technology and our human understanding, there remains great mystery in the way the creation is always unfolding, uprooting, and giving birth.  And, so it is with God the Creator and the Mystery which always envelopes Him.