If you
live on the East Coast of the United States, the name Sandy suddenly has a new
meaning. Before last week, when I
thought of the name Sandy, I thought of Sandy Duncan who played Peter Pan when
I was a child. Now I think of a tropical
storm/hurricane coming to our Nation’s Capital.
The weather reports have shut down the schools, the county government and
the federal government. I made the
mistake of stopping by the grocery store today for orange juice and yogurt and
found long lines at the checkout. My
Eagle Scout husband made sure that both of our cars are filled with gas!
Saturday morning, at Mass, my pastor prayed a Collect for averting
storms. In it the prayer reads, “Still
this awesome storm that it may become an occasion for us to praise you.” What a beautiful phrase and a hopeful way to
look at this impending weather event.
This event helps me to realize that there are many occurrences in life
over which I have little control. And it is good to take time to praise our
Lord and pray for our needs.
And if we lose power, then there will be time for our family
to unplug and spend time playing board games (I think a massive Monopoly game
may be on the horizon) and hang out together. Potentially a great blessing in this all too
busy life that we life!
Yet this prayer is just as applicable when confronting many
of the storms of life. A parent with
cancer, the sudden death of a young person, a tragic accident resulting in a
loved one in the hospital, the loss of a job and the list could go on and on of
the storms that we face in life. With each
storm, we can pray for the Lord to still it that we may use the occasion to
praise Him.
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