You Cannot Run from the Storm

This morning as I took my predawn walk, the night sky lit up with lightning and the silence was broken with thunder.

And I remembered, with a smile on my face that time a few years back when I was walking in the dark and it began to storm and I said to myself, "That's okay, the lightning can't find me in the dark."

Silly and stupid, but it was 5 o'clock in the morning, and my brain wasn't fully functioning yet.

The storms of life will always find us.

But they don't last forever.

Darkness gives way to light.

The night gives way to the sunrise.

Today's prayer:

We cannot hide from the lightning.

We cannot run from the storm.

We cannot stop the sun from setting

or the full moon from nightly waning.

And yet, in the midst of this, Lord,

You have given us hope.

Sometimes that night sky seems

to have swallowed up the stars,

but then the new moon begins to wax

and this little light begins to shine.

And even the very darkest of nights

can’t hold back the rising sun.

There are storms.

There are struggles.

There are nights

that seem to last forever.

But there is also the parting of clouds,

and a darkness that gives way to light.

Each morning the sun rises,

and a new life begins.

Every day is Sunday.

Every day is resurrection.

Every day is fresh hope, Lord,

handed to us, palms up, head bowed,

by You, Lord, as an offering of love and life.

Amen.

Psalm 121