I've Been Thinking

Scorched earth and rainstorms

It’s been blazing hot this summer with little pockets of relief. This past weekend we even had a rainstorm. 

The grass is brown, dry – scorched earth. The sun blazing relentless heat. 

Sometimes life is scorched earth, too. 

Losses

Losses, they add up. The toll of the pandemic. Disappointments, death of dreams. The year planned – then decimated. The years ahead, supposedly sketched out, but those plans, too, dashed. 

We must acknowledge each loss, grieve it. We mull over what we thought was a fresh adventure. Yet it was truncated. No adventure – only a screeching stop. Tire marks skidding to a full stop. 

Answers?

The road ahead shrouded in the fog of uncertainty. Things we were so sure of just ceased to be. 

Thoughts and questions race round and round. A dog chasing its tail. No straightforward answers. Is there ever any? 

Still in such loss, much is also gained. Growth comes. But it’s too soon to tell what fruit will be born from this pain. And yet the vine always produces a tastier, more full-bodied grape after a pruning. 

Relief

I think of the rainstorm that came too – rain driving, pouring. Earth parched, gasps now in relief. Drinks greedily longing for relief. Will the earth hardened by drought soften enough to benefit from the showers that come? 

Oh God, make this heart soft to the rain of your Spirit. Let not the hardships of this time be only scorched earth. Breathe on me, rain on me, Spirit of the living God.

Green the browning of this earth, this heart. Mold me, make me, fill me. Quench the thirsting of my soul. Hear my cry, oh God, hear my cry. 

Streams in the desert

Isaiah 35: 6 – 7a

“Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.  The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. 

Isaiah 43:3

For I will pour water on {those that are} thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring. 

Come all who thirst

Isaiah 55:1 – 3

Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

This is hope in times of scorched earth. 

Amen and amen.

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