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An online resource adapted and used with permission from prayerbanch.ca
Weather Report The Same Rain Todays Weather It’s the same rain but we don’t all have the same experience. In the last 2 years, many of us have had to work from home due to Covid lockdowns. I remember one time sitting at my desk and watching the rain bucketing down. I felt a sense of relief and joy knowing that I was safe and dry and with no need to commute to work and worry about getting wet. It was actually quite wonderful sitting and enjoying the sight and sound of the rain. The green of the trees and plants brightened, the colour increasing in vibrancy as the rain continued to fall. The world looked like it was being washed clean and fresh. When the rain slowed, little droplets of water formed on the cherry blossoms and tips of the branches, making the trees appear as if they were covered in tiny diamond jewels. I breathed the view in with gratitude and gave thanks to God for the gift of this abundant and beautiful rain. Only a couple of hours later, I would read and watch news of the floods that had devastated homes. It was the same rain, but not the same experience! Weather with You How can the same rain that grows crops, destroy crops? How can the same rain that fills dams, flood roads? How can the same rain that makes diamond jewel droplets on cherry blossoms, make rivers of mud flowing with the debris that used to be people’s precious possessions? How can something that felt safe to me be a danger to my neighbour? It is hard to reconcile these two sides, the good thing that happens to one person, while simutaneously acknowledging the bad thing someone else is experiencing. It was the same rain. We experience the storms of our own weather systems in different ways to others around us. Tough stuff happens. To everyone at some time, but not to all of us at the same time. People often say, “I just tell myself, that there’s always someone worse off than me,” as if this is somehow going to make their tough stuff easier or better. Weathering the days where we are flooded beyond our strength, is tough. It is okay to acknowledge and own this truth. Weather Blessing May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
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An online resource adapted and used with permission from prayerbench.ca
Weather Report: Just One Drop of Rain Todays Weather Have you ever seen a Resurrection Plant. I have one. It astonishes me. Without water, it dries out and curls into a tight brown ball. Place it in a shallow dish with a few drops of water and it sighs (well, I think I hear it sigh) then it immediately opens, stretches, and becomes a verdant green. Watch this video. It really is amazing: Resurrection Plant. Weather with You A resurrection plant can survive in the desert for up to a 100 years just rolling along. All it needs is one drop of water and then it blooms. Just one drop of water. You won’t likely see a Resurrection Plant on your Stroll but you might notice raindrops. Or you can look for dewdrops bringing moisture to the green and growing things. What’s blooming around you? What’s blooming in you?
Resurrection reminds us that the flow of love cannot be stopped. Love surrounds us. Love encircles us. We are swimming in Love. Love is always. The resurrection plant reminds us that we need only one drop to enliven us. Watch for it. Wait for it. Pay attention. Stay awake to it. One drop. Sigh. Open your heart. Stretch your soul. Practice resurrection today. Our Weather Blessing in Song May the road rise up ... Peace, Rev. Gail An online resource adapted and used with permission from prayerbench.ca
Weather Report: What Grows the Grass? Today's Weather Grass needs four important things to grow and in spring grass is usually at it’s ‘growiest’ best. With sunlight, moisture, carbon dioxide and soil temperature all in alignment, we can have a thick, lush carpet of grass. The good news is, that when we don’t have enough of one or more of these things our grass can still survive. Starting below the ground, grass roots pull water and nutrients from the soil, transporting the goodness to the tips of the leaves. This is where the growth happens. The leaves absorb carbon dioxide from the air and use sunshine to make food. The more food the grass produces, the more it grows. As it grows, it generously gives oxygen back into the air. When there’s lots of sunshine, the grass stores excess sugars and starch deep in the roots, saving the food for a little snack in the months when there’s not enough sunshine, moisture, warm soil and carbon dioxide for growing and the focus shifts to maintaining. Weather with You Spring is a growing season. The growing grass reveals this to us. We have growing seasons too, where we flourish and thrive and store up energy for ourselves as we grow strong and robust. We have maintenance seasons as well, where we must draw from these stores to manage our daily lives as best we can. And like the experience of the growing grass, the seasons turn and change, and a maintenance season becomes a growing season and the cycle starts over. As you go out to Stroll today, find a patch of grass to walk through, or look at the grass from your window. If you find the right grass and the weather is warm enough, why not take your shoes and socks off and walk on the grass with bare feet. If that’s too challenging, place a towel or blanket on the grass and sit down for a time. Reach around you and feel the grass with your hands. Pick a blade or two to hold as you continue your Stroll. Ponder your current season. Are you in a growing season or a maintenance season? What do we need to grow?
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. (See Luke 2:52 NRSV) Ponder your own current physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs. Pick a blade of grass for each need and name your need in a series of one word prayers, inviting God to be with you in your growing or maintenance season. Weather Blessing May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand. Peace, Rev. Gail An online resource adapted from, and used with permission, from prayerbench.ca
Weather Report: O Changeless Shade Todays Weather What kind of a day is it? Will you need an umbrella on your stroll to protect from raindrops? Or maybe a parasol shading you from the sun? Take a few minutes to learn a few facts about the long history of umbrellas and parasols. Watch: Umbrellas. Weather with You Psalm 121 is a favourite of mine (Janice). I remember my grandmother playing “Unto the Hills” on her old pump organ and she and my grandfather singing the words. For our attention today, here is verse 3 of the old hymn. “Jehovah is indeed thy keeper true, Thy changeless shade; Jehovah thy defense on thy right hand thine own true aid. And thee no sun by day shall ever smite; No moon shall harm thee in the silent night.” (written by John Campbell in 1877 and quoted from Voices United) Like an umbrella or a parasol, God offers protection and shelter. God is closer to us than our very shadow. O Changeless Shade. As you begin to stroll today, or look from your window, ponder what divine protection means to you? Remember, with gratitude, times when you felt sheltered in the Presence of the Holy. O Changeless Shade. Let this be your strolling mantra. Recall, too, times when you felt exposed to harsh elements of life, wishing you had more shelter or protection, what did you miss? What helped you endure? What “true aid” was there for you in such times? O Changeless Shade. When you return, hold your umbrella in your hands. Really get a sense of it in your hands, it’s weight and it’s wonder. Begin a prayer with the words “O Changeless Shade.” What rises from your heart? Don’t have an umbrella? Here is a colouring page and you can meditate while you colour and/or write your “O Changeless Shade” prayer or poem. Weather Blessing May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand. Peace, Rev. Gail An online resource adapted and used with permission from prayerbench.ca
Weather Report: The Still Dew Weather with You Dewdrops are formed when a warm and clear day is followed by a cool evening and night, and the humid air condenses through a process of condensation. Water changes from a vapour to a liquid around the objects on the ground. It makes the grass wet and waters the plants. I’m sure I learned about dew points in school, but I had to look it up. The beauty of the science fascinates me. I learned scientists in India are successfully harvesting dew to provide fresh water in arid areas. That makes me happy. I learned that pollution in the atmosphere created “acid dew” and harms living things. That makes me sad. Here's a fascinating video about how dew forms: Video: How dew forms Today we stroll in the company of these little droplets. Today’s Weather You might want to reflect on this verse before your Stroll. If you know the hymn it’s from, you may find yourself humming it. “Drop thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of thy peace.” - John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-92) Here is an inner task for today. Pause and slow down a notch. Just a notch. You might find yourself physically slowing, but pay attention, and you may feel slowness drop inside you when you give intention to slowing. When we practice slowing we see differently, we notice more, we are open to divine Presence condensing in us. “May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth.” - Deuteronomy 32:2 Weather Blessing May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand. An online resource adapted and used with permission from prayerbench.ca
Weather Report: “Brother Wind” Today’s Weather Wind is air in motion. It may be as welcoming as a gentle breeze or as fierce as a hurricane. We can’t see it. We can’t hold it in our hands. We can see the results of wind, whether that is clothes drying on the line, a sail boat pushed along the lake, or trees bending in a gustier wind. “Wind is twisted and turned by the many obstacles it encounters along its way. In forests, trees block the wind and protect the forest floor from gusts. In big cities, towering skyscrapers funnel the wind into the narrow spaces between them, speeding it up. Much larger obstacles, like oceans or mountain ranges, mold the wind into large, predictable patterns that shape weather and climate across the planet.” Read more about what makes the wind. Weather with You Remember that old trick of using your finger as a weathervane? Conduct the experiment as you begin your Stroll. Here's what to do:
"Praised by You, my Lord, through Brother Wind, And through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather, Through whom You give sustenance to Your Creatures." -- St. Francis of Assisi Click on this link to enjoy this recording of I Feel The Winds Of God Today. Song: I Feel The Winds Of God Today by Steve Bell Weather Blessing May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand. |
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