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God, hear the message, heatwave, holy ground, hope, Moses, open heart, plan, pray, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
I am sitting in an air-conditioned bubble, knowing about the dangerous heat index only because there is a large television on the wall in front of me constantly running today’s temperatures across the screen as the biggest news of the day. It is scheduled to reach 99 degrees F. by noon in St. Louis where I am and the headline right now is that the heat index across the country will reach 100F. for over a million people and will shatter heat records – over 150 of them – this week. It’s not just the 100 but the 111 in Virginia and elsewhere that makes me want to corral all the poor or aged people and bring them to our climate-controlled conference venue where we will need to remember to bring our shawls or sweaters to our session.
As I turn to the Scriptures for comforting news I hear God calling to Moses, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground…I will be with you…” I can usually twist and turn and fit the messages I find to my daily circumstances. Today I wish only to note for myself that God was speaking all those centuries ago and I am here now to hear the message. I can do nothing about the heat or the storms except to trust the generosity of people and local governments to open places of safety for their citizens.
So with that hope and the knowledge that I am privileged to stand this day on holy ground to pray and plan with my Sisters from near and far (see recent posts), I go about the work that is mine to do asking only for an open heart.
Although I know that Sunday is considered the first day of the week, it is Monday that usually calls me to take stock and ready myself for the work that this week will see done or undone when next Sunday rolls around. Today, after two weeks of many full and fruitful days, I am grateful for the opportunity to have this day not only to make a measured plan but also to begin to plod mindfully along, hoping for some level of achievement by the end of the week. I am not naïve enough to think that all will go as planned – that is not the nature of “real life” in my “neck of the woods” – but just making the plan is a good enough start for me right now. Thomas Merton gives me impetus to put my mind and heart into that task this morning with the following reflection.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 