Thank you, Lord, for this season of sun and slow motion, of games and porch sitting, of picnics and light green fireflies on heavy purple evenings, and praise for slight breezes. It’s good, God, as the long days of your creation continue.
Let this season be for me a time of gathering the pieces into which my business has broken me. O God, enable me now to grow wise through reflection, peaceful through the song of the cricket, recreated through the laughter of play.
Most of all Lord, let me live easily and “grace-fully” for a spell, so that I may see other souls deeply, share in a silence unhurried, listen to the sounds of sunlight and shadows, explore barefoot the land of forgotten dreams and shy hopes, and find the right words to tell another who I am.
As summertime continues with earnest with hot weather and refreshing breezes, boating with motor or sail is seen on New York state waterways.
Summer storms on lakes come up and are to be considered with care and caution. It reminds us of something related to a famous artist and his painting.
Rembrandt composed a painting that portrays the Biblical story of the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps of you have seen the little ship occupied by Jesus and the Apostles being hit by a huge wave. You can feel the shudder running through the boat. The storm is all around. The rigging is loose and blowing in the wind. And the disciples are panic-stricken.
It is marvelous to realize that amid all this storm, panic, fear and danger, the disciples had to awaken Jesus to tell Him about it. It wasn’t because He didn’t care or because He was indifferent, it was because He had such trust in God. He had sunk Himself down so deep into the being of God for that period of refreshment that He was sleeping right through the storm.
You can look at the painting and say to yourself, “I’ve got to learn that from Him — to have complete trust in God.”