Monday, July 25, 2022

Most of us in the East think of the Rio Grande as the border between Texas and Mexico, but as one of the longest rivers in the United States, it begins in the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado, and flows through New Mexico before it reaches the Gulf near Brownsville. But the river is running dry due to extreme drought.

In Albuquerque, stretches of gravel can be seen where water once flowed. As the river heads south into Texas, it comes under the control of an international boundary agreement regarding use of the water and fixing the boundary between the United States and Mexico. As the water level drops, lawsuits abound over who gets the water.

The drought spreads north and east into the central part of the Nation as well.  One would think that the climate crisis deniers would be pilloried for their refusal to pass meaningful climate legislation by farmers whose fields are drying up, but perhaps that’s just too logical.  Politics seems to triumph over common sense.

Prayer for the Day

Not even to the halfway point of summer, we swelter, O God,
   For the heat and lack of rain are too much with us;
But we know that in other parts of the world it is worse,
   For we have not cared for your earth as we should.
Grant, O merciful Creator, that we and our leaders wake up
   And take action before it is too late for all of us.
In the name of the One who calls us to action,
    Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Thoughts for the Day

I choose to listen to the river for a while, thinking river thoughts, before     Edward Abbey, author, environmentalist, from Desert Solitaire (1927-1989)

To trace the history of a river or a raindrop … is also to trace the history of the soul, the history of the mind descending and arising in the body. In both we constantly seek and stumble upon divinity…
       - Gretel Ehrlich, American travel writer, poet, essayist

This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah,
   And when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh.
Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live,
   And there will be very many fish, once the waters reach there.
       It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes.
    Ezekiel 47: 8-9

The Rio Grande near Albuquerque, New Mexico