The storm that has been hovering and steaming up the past few days finally arrived. It woke me in the middle of the night, with heavy rain and loud wind. I am staying at my mother’s in Cape May Point. The elements are very real here being in this tiny peninsula of land at the end of New Jersey, jutting out into the ocean, nothing to buffet us. It is beautiful and breathtaking here by the ocean. It is also loud and insistent, real life and real elements can never be put aside. I have known this place all of my life and still it intrigues me and moves me and sometimes wakes me in the night.
“The one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like the foolish person that builds their house upon the sand. The winds and torrent came and hit that house and its destruction was complete.” Luke 6:49
From a very young age, that parable has always been vivid and real to me. The same year my sister Betsy was born, I witnessed parts of houses flowing through the streets, parts of streets missing and complete houses gone from the landscape. Storms mean business here, and no one can afford to be foolish, although many try since they have not seen a storm like that in over 40 years.
I pray that today I might remember that the words I need to follow are - love (even my enemies) and do not judge others. It is hard to live with out judging and holding animosity towards others. But it also stirs up awful storms in all of us when we hold hatred and judgment in our hearts and makes our foundations weak and shaky. It also draws away time and energy from joy. So today, as the winds blow and the seas billow and everything is stirred up, I want to live a calm and loving life grounded in the sure foundation of God’s love for me. I want to navigate the rough seas of human interaction knowing that negative judgment and hatred only tear at my foundation but that love can always build it up. May we all have the strength today to walk face into the storm knowing that God’s love is our sure and steadfast foundation, a shelter from all storms.
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