In the Storm

Across a wide swath of land stretching from the south to the north, from the shores to the mountains, from the small rural towns to the skyscraper cities, people are watching the coming of a storm.  Like so many things which come to us, storms with such potential for destruction and harm are hard to understand.  The creation is such a beautiful setting for us to live with its breathtaking beauty and spirit renewing moments.  It is a strange thing that we can find ourselves kneeling in awe one day and looking for a hiding place the next.      

The creation is in some ways a microcosm of life.  Within what we know as the Sermon on the Mount we hear Jesus saying,"...He (your Father in Heaven) makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and send rains on the righteous and the unrighteous." (Matthew 5:45)  Numerous are the examples of injustice, years of exile, persecution, storms and shipwrecks inside the pages of the holy story.  The creation can be beautiful and frightening, orderly and chaotic, life giving and deadly.   Nothing about is predictable.  Nothing about it is within our control.  There is a season for weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing.    

In these hours of waiting on the storm, I am reminded of the ones which have ravaged not the landscape around me, but the core of my soul.  I am remembering the ones which have driven me to my knees in despair.  I am remembering that the sun rose on the day after the greatest darkness and that blessings came again when it seemed that all had been withdrawn.  As the old song of my youth taught me, "I don't know about tomorrow...but I know who holds the future and I know who holds my hand."