Daily Devotions - Thursday, January 24

HOW DO YOU VIEW A COLD, COLD DAY?

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!”
--Psalm 133:1

On a day like today there will be some very different views about the cold! The one unifying thing about today is that we will all agree that it is COLD. For some the cold is invigorating, for some the cold finds them ready to jump in the car and head for the sunny south! For some it is miserable, for some it presents some interesting challenges. This brief prayer of William Stafford seems to say that we can/should approach today and every day with optimism.

I like to live in the sound of water,
in the feel of the mountain air.
A sharp reminder hits me: this world still is alive;
it stretches out there shivering toward its own creation,
and I’m part of it.
Even my breathing enters into this elaborate give-and-take,
this bowing to sun and moon, day or night, winter, summer, storm, still—
this tranquil chaos that seems to be going somewhere.
This wilderness with a great peacefulness in it.
This motionless turmoil, this everything dance.

We may not live together in perfect unity about how we view a cold, cold day. But, like Stafford, we can give thanks that this world still is alive and that we can participate in “this everything dance” of life (even if the joints are a bit stiff today!) Have a good day.

A prayer for today:
Thank you for the gift of life on a cold, cold day, O God. Amen.

Ben Keckler
01.24.08