Father,
You have made a
glorious creation. And as You created each part You stepped back, looked at it
and were pleased with what You had accomplished. And so, when You were done
with it all, it was only right for You to declare that it was all very good.
Then, You handed it
all over to humanity to develop and enjoy. And we ruined it. Now, Your
once-perfect creation is anything but. And yet, it is still Your creation. It
still belongs to You. And You are still at work using it.
And one way that You
use it is to bring about terrifying bits of weather, things like hurricane
Michael. And without realizing it, those who named it, made a really good
choice: Mi-cha-el. 'Who is like God?' Indeed, who is like You, Father?
Father, we know that
You have Your good purposes in all that happens, including terrible storms. So,
when it comes to Your saints, You bring about such things to try us, to put our
faith to the test. And that can be so very encouraging when, depending on Your
grace, we are able to pass the tests, when we trust You in hard situations. But
such a test is helpful to us even when we fail the test. Now we know what to
work on.
You also use
terrible storms to discipline Your saints, as a warning to those of us who are
flirting with evil. Your discipline can be rigorous, but it still is an
expression of Your love for Your errant children.
And then, Father,
You use terrible storms to punish the wicked. Your punishment for rebels is not
limited to what happens later. Sometimes they taste a bit of it now.
Father, we need to
see our world more clearly as Yours. We need to see it as a tool You use to
bring about Your plans for Your church as well as for the rest of the world.
Get us to take the time and effort to work on this so that we will work to
hallow your name, to bring in your kingdom and thus to live wisely. Through
Christ our Lord, Amen.