June 7

The world is so accessible; it's marvelous.  We can talk to family and friends from all over the planet, and sometimes, we can even see them as we talk!  We watch news that is happening as we watch, or maybe was happening as we slept.  The world is still tied to the rhythms of nature: day and night, seasons of the year, weather patterns.  As marvelous as technology is, it isn't failsafe.  We remain at the mercy of much in our world.  That is an odd phrase: at the mercy of.  Technology has no emotions and cannot show mercy.  The forces of nature are not personalities and cannot show mercy.  We use the phrase to communicate a lack of control, a circumstance that is out of our hands although we would like to be in control.  We need, or want, a certain outcome but it is beyond us to make that happen.  Whether we are unable to wish a grandchild a happy birthday or are staring at the rubble which a tornado left behind, we feel helpless.

It is difficult to realize how little we are in control.  It is difficult to place our lives, the whole of our lives, in someone else's hands.  It is difficult to place our dreams and hopes, our future, the wellbeing of our loved ones, our health, our possessions, our pains and frustrations at the mercy of another.  Yet, when that other is God, we can trust that all will be well.  All will not necessarily be the way we want it to be, but all will be well.

Lord, you are in control of all things from the beginning to the end of all things.  Still, I grumble and fret when I don't get what I want.  I even rage and cry out when painful things happen to me or those I love.  There is so much that I don't understand.  Please help me to trust you.  Please hear me and hold me tenderly when I cry out in disappointment or fear or anger or pain.  Please show me mercy.  In Jesus' name, Amen.