Ordinary Time

Pause

My grace is enough for you.

2 Corinthians 12:9

Listen

Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all you ocean depths! Do the same, fire and hail, snow and smoke, stormy wind that does what God says! Do the same, you mountains, every single hill, fruit trees, and every single cedar! Do the same, you animals—wild or tame—you creatures that creep along and you birds that fly! Do the same, you kings of the earth and every single person, you princes and every single ruler on earth! Do the same, you young men—young women too!—you who are old together with you who are young!

Let all of these praise the Lord’s name because only God’s name is high over all. Only God’s majesty is over earth and heaven.

Psalm 148:7-13

Think

Do you sit in a thunderstorm and think about how the wind and lightning are praising God?

The Psalmist gives us a strange image in this Psalm of everything from lightning and hail, to snow and clouds, and people praising God. Everything and everyone is capable of praising God, including us.

Yet, sometimes we get busy, we forget that we are image bearers of God — all of us, created in God’s image. When we forget who we are, we also forget the many gifts God gives us.

The Psalm stops us and, with powerful imagery, reminds us that everything in this world is a gift.

How might you praise God today? How do you see God in all of creation?

Susan Sytsma Bratt

Pray

Creator God, thank you for creating everything from birds to trees to me in your image. Help me to enjoy you and glorify you today. Amen.

Go

"I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us."

Anne Lamott