Life's storms

Prayer for the Day

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom do I fear?

Psalm 27

Reflection

There are many storms in life, some more raging and life threatening than others, but stormy weather nonetheless. We are tossed about in our relationships, workplace, families and school. We are shaken by concerns for our health and that of others. The present economic meltdown has swamped many of us and disrupted our sleep and our employment; war and terrorism, natural disasters and the migration of peoples, all add to the “storms” and “fear” of life. And all the “personal” struggles that we keep inside us test our faith.

When facing these things, we have to ask, “How strong is my faith?” The Apostles’ momentary lack of faith was reassured and refortified by Jesus’ personal presence and actions; they were amazed that Jesus could master the elements (Matthew 8:23-27).  But unlike them, we should not be amazed by the Lord’s actions or Jesus’ presence around and within us because we know Jesus to be the risen one and worthy of our faith, hope and love.

When I sat down to read the Bible tonight, I didn’t have a “game plan.”  Instead, I simply opened the book and decided to read what was there. It was pretty clear that the passage I came upon was meant for tonight’s blog.  It was Psalm 26, in which David prays: “In the Lord I have trusted; I have not faltered. Test me, Lord, and try me; search my heart and my mind.” It is what I hope would be my response when “suddenly a violent storm comes up in my sea of life and the boat is being swamped.”

Our act of faith today is to pray, "My life is in your hands." Some days, that will be said with tears streaming down our faces. Some days, it will be prayed in the presence of so much anxiety and fear. Some days, it can only be the Spirit praying those words within us. But the more days we say those words, the more deeply those words will come from our hearts. It is not so much that we "place" our lives in God's hands; rather, we recognize that our lives are in God's hands.

In our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we express our faith in God's victory over all sin and death. We express our faith that we can "rest" in that victory - no matter what we are suffering or fearing. We can live with more peace, with more trust, with more hope, and with more risk. Instead of watching out for storms, we can comfort others in stormy weather. We can build communities of faith and hope and courage. We can bring light to the dark clouds of our world - even when just a little faith takes away our fear.