Heat lightening

That's what I've always called it--those explosions of light in the distance when the sky above you was absolutely clear and full of stars.

It was coming from the South tonight, from New Haven and the Sound. Puff after puff of light in the sky.

The temperature dropped between 10 and 15 degrees during the half hour or so I watched the heat lightening.

No rain yet. Not even clouds.

What it reminds me of is this: we live in a world we don't control or own.

That's how environmentalists are born: by realizing we live in a universe we did not create and do not own.

Don't mess with Mother Nature. The incredible string of natural issues: earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, floods, mudslides, heat wave of the last few months brings us face to face with that reality--we live in a universe and on a spinning ball that we neither created or own. Larger forces are in play than we can control or even predict.

Take a deep breath.

Seek to address the One who did create all this.

Just be present to that Holy One.

Don't ask for anything. Don't confess anything.

Just be present to the One who dwells within you and who owns all that is.

Take a deep breath. Don't do or say anything.

Just be there.

Really, just be there......