Listening to Creation-A Call to Go Outside!

Recently I was talking with a friend about the beauty and wonder of creation. We wondered together whether birds and other wildlife have been more active since the pandemic began or whether we have simply become more attune to their presence? My answer was yes.
As I type this and reflect on this conversation, I am sitting outside on my back deck listening to the cacophony of birds and insects that also call this area home. The sounds are loud and overwhelming and peaceful too. Are they louder than last year at this time or am I simply more aware of them?
This pandemic has shifted my life and encouraged me to spend more time outside. While I am not thankful for the pandemic, I am thankful for the push outdoors. When I must work at home, I find it can often be done from outside and I am thankful to be part of God’s creation while keeping a distance from others.
I hope you will find time to be outside soon. Sitting, moving, listening and looking at God’s amazing creation is a great reminder that we are part of creation with a responsibility to care for it and to enjoy it. So go outside and give thanks to God for this beautiful place we all call home.

My view while writing.

A Prayer for the Less than Ordinary Days!

My life has not been ordinary for the past few weeks. And I know we can all say that our lives have been less than ordinary for most of this year. This is a prayer for those days that are not ordinary.

Loving God, We need you today. Our plans have flown out the window as we are coping with the unexpected. It feels like we do not have an anchor and we are floating in the sea unable to see land. Rescue us! Anchor us! Bring us safely to shore.
We wonder if our hopes will ever come to reality. God, guide us through this day with changing expectations. Guide us! Hold us! Love us!
Remind us that nothing can separate us from your love for us! Nothing! So even when things are upside down and backwards, you are with us. While we wait for direction, be our gps turning us around when we start down the wrong road.
The questions keep piling up, and we seek answers from you, O Wise One. Answer us in your time while giving us the patience to keep on waiting even when the wait seems so long.
We long for the ordinary days to return, and until they do be with us, Loving God, every single day. Amen.