Yesterday on my way out to run an office errand, I noticed something fluttering – no, thrashing about on the pavement. Peering closer, it was a yellow jacket on top of a dragonfly. Evidently dragonflies will attack and eat yellow jackets or just about any insect it thinks is smaller than itself
The yellow jacket was fighting ferociously, using its stinger against the larger dragon fly. It reminded me of those attacked could rebound, in some ways much like Ukraine has rallied against its larger and stronger neighbor, Russia. As I continued watching, it also appeared that the smaller yellow jacket once it had gained the upper hand did not leave but just became exhausted. Neither of them survived the encounter.
It made me think How we respond when we feel besieged not physically, of course, but emotionally or spiritually? Do we respond as the yellow jacket, stinging back or are we able to trust in God to carry us through? We all have times when we struggle for God’s comforting Presence, when we experience a dark night of the soul. It is those times when we need each other to help bring us through the journey out of the darkness.
Prayer for the Day
Ever present God, who loves us not because of our merits
But as a parent loves a child, shelter us within your heart;
Embrace us in your Presence, even as we struggle to find you,
And be with us in our journeys out of darkness into light.
Fill our minds with the light of truth, our hearts with the grace of love,
Our deeds with the power of your Spirit.
In the name of the One who shows us how to live with grace,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God ... But more often stones and grit block the well, and God is buried beneath. Then God must be dug out again.
- Etty Hillesum, from An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943
When despair for the world grows in me ... I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
- Wendell Berry, from his poem "The Peace of Wild Things"
God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, tough the earth should change,
Though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam
Though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
Psalm 46: 1-2