Feb 15 - Tempestuous Wind

Praise the Lord from the earth, *
you sea-monsters and all deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and fog, *
tempestuous wind, doing his will;
Psalm 148:7-8

First, Psalm 67 is said without a refrain and slightly protracted as on Sunday so that everyone can be present...
Benedict's Rule 13:2 (Chittister, Pg. 111)

Lauds becomes an unending lesson in reality and faith, in accepting what life brings, sure in the knowledge that the God who loves us is with us upholding us all the way.
Chittister, Pg. 112

When I was reading the psalms this morning I was just waking up after the long, very cold, and very windy, night (the night of Feb 14-15, 2015). It was a night that started with snow and proceeded to tempestuous winds and cold, one of the coldest  nights I remember since I arrived in the Washington DC area in 1985. Cold winter nights with high winds test my patience and trust greatly. Power outages in the summer are uncomfortable. Power outages in the winter, especially on the coldest winter days, are dangerous if the power is off for long.

Add to that the house noises that are different when the wind is blowing hard and I have a prescription for testing my faith. I woke up in need of confirmation that the tempestuous winds and the snow and the fog are all part of God's creation. Then I read Sister Joan's reminder that God is upholding us all the way. Thank you for God's active hand in my life, even if I didn't get a really good night's sleep...

A Note To Anyone Reading:

This entry is part of a series that is developing as I read The Rule of Benedict, A Spirituality for the 21st Century, Joan Chittister, OSB, Crossroads, 2010. I am offering this both to those at St. George's Episcopal Church, Arlington VA, that may be reading this book and to anyone that is interested.

Unless stated otherwise quotes from St. Benedict's Rule are from the translation in this same book.Psalms are from The Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church, 1979 unless otherwise noted.

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