What a perfectly splendid morning we have here in Cranberry today. . . Yes, you read that right. Today is a wonderful blessing from God, and every time I look up, I feel blessed by what I am watching outside the church windows. The rain is coming down hard and consistent. It is going to be a ’soaker’ today. I walked a couple extra times around the church just so that I could hear the rain fall and walk with it in God’s world.
I stepped over some of the large puddles, where I could, and paced right though the big ones. I walked out and around large ‘lake-like’ spaces and enjoyed my detour. My feet are still wet from my walk and it does not bother me at all. I love rainy days—and not for the reason you might suspect.
Blessings
I love rainy days because even in the ordinariness of them, I find space for worship and thanksgiving to God. I find that having to walk around large ‘lake-like’ areas in the yard is a lesson in patience. The flow of the water down the driveway behind the church reminds me of the progress that God’s Spirit makes in each of our lives. In the ordinary rain I find so much of God.
Mary Oliver, in her poem Mindful, says this far better than I can. As you read her words, I wonder what is God trying to teach you today in the ordinariness of life? What lessons can you find in what is right before your eyes?
Mindful—by Mary Oliver
Every day
I see or hear
Something
That more or less
Kills me
With delight,
That leaves me
Like a needle
In a haystack
Of light.
It was what I was born for—
To look, to listen,
To lose myself
Inside this soft world—
To instruct myself
Over and over
In joy,
And acclamation.
Nor am I talking
About the exceptional,
The fearful, the dreadful,
The very extravagant—
But of the ordinary,
The common, the very drab,
The daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
How can you help
But grow wise
With such teachings
As these—
The untrimmable light
Of the world,
The ocean’s shine,
The prayers that are made
Out of grass?
Blessings
Rev. Derek
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