Chores

One of the chores I had to do before leaving was to help Karol with her garden and plants.
It was pretty mundane, but I really enjoy working outside for a change.
I will return to Kansas City soon and go back to desk work, so I need to soak up as much outside energy as I can!
I was pretty worn out after kayaking and gardening, but I knew that last night was a special night.
It was one of the key nights of the annual meteor shower know as the Perseid, peaking every year between August 9 to 14. Because this annual "shower" occurs around the August 10 feast of St. Lawrence, a early Church deacon martyred for his faith (roasted over an open fire on a spit), it is sometimes referred to as "the tears of St. Lawrence".
It is so rainy and cloudy up here on the mountain, though, that I thought I had little chance of viewing it.
Before I went to bed, I did see Venus, Mars and Saturn arrayed around the crescent moon, but the rest of the sky here was clouded over.
I looked out my window at midnight, and there were no stars.
But at 3:30 am, I could see that stars were filling the part of the sky visible from my window.
In spite of the lure of my warm bed, I went outside and it was remarkable: every inch of the sky was full of stars! I saw the Milky Way and Venus was now directly overhead. I watched as several meteors streaked though the southern sky!
It was cold, perhaps in the upper-fifties, so I went back inside to put on my sweatshirt and windbreaker and spent the next thirty minutes watching the sky in awe. I was filled with wonder, thrilled with the enormity of God's creation.
I recalled the words that God spoke to Abraham, when He called him out at night and made His covenant with him, promising Abraham that his descendants would be more numerous than the stars that filled the sky that long-ago night.
Last night, I felt God's promise to me reverberate deep within me. I had a locution more than 32 years ago that God would be with me in my suffering. I felt Him say to me that long-ago night: "I will take care of you." He has, and He continues to care for me, and console me, so much. I know and believe that God is faithful! But with my depression and failures, I do not always feel that way.
I am certainly not worthy of God's promises or gifts, yet He gives them.
I have been so blessed, and so touched by the miracles of creation, by the depths and power of the sea, to the enormity of the solar system and stars, to the fires and heat of volcanoes and magma.
How can I keep from believing in You, my Lord and my God?!