It’s still early. The birds are still asleep. The only animal stirring is an enormous raccoon finishing up what was left of the cat food on the deck. The sky is actually still gray but by the time I finish writing, it will have become rosy, then blue. And it’s quiet without even a breeze to rustle the leaves.
Local gardeners and farmers have planted the cold weather crops. Good thing, too, for although the mornings are still cool and the days pleasant, we’re promised hot weather by the end of the week. The middle day of a three-day weekend is usually the quietest, a blessed relief from hearing the high school band practice for tomorrow’s parade.
I’ve always wondered why we have parades on Memorial Day. Parades should be for celebrations, not the remembrance of those we have lost in our many wars. Memorial Day should be a solemn day, one when we pray for options to war. Sometimes, of course, there are no options. The world is filled with too many Hitlers and Putins for that.
Prayer for the Day
Grant us peace, your most precious gift, O Eternal Source of Peace,
And enable us to be your messengers to all the peoples of the earth.
Help us to become a stronghold of peace in the council of nations.
And plant the bond of friendship among all peoples.;
Free us from ungenerous judgments and presumptuous claims,
Moving us from fear into hope and from anger into forgiveness,
In the name of the One who is your source of peace,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The living owe it to those who no longer can speak to tell their story for them.”
- Czesław Miłosz, Polish poet, Nobel laureate, from The Issa Valley (1911-2004)
No one is forgotten. Nothing is forgotten. Let no one forget. Let nothing be forgotten.
- Olga Berggolts, Russian poet, voice of Leningrad 1940 (1910-1975)
Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of God;
For God spoke and it came to be; God commanded and t stood firm.
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing and frustrates the plans of people
The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of the heart to all generations.
Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people chosen as a heritage.
The Lord looks down from heaven and sees all humankind.
From where God sits we are all watched, all inhabitants of the earth,
God who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
Psalm 33: 8-15