“Disasters work like alarm clocks to the world, hence God allows them. They are shouting, ‘Wake up! Love! Pray!”
~Criss Jami
An interesting quote. Not because it opens the door to the ageless argument over why God “Allows” Bad things to happen to good people, ( A subject for another day) but rather because of the meaning behind the second part of the quote.
When bad things do happen, it is like an alarm clock, waking us up to the truth. Reminding us of the important things: Life, love, family…prayer. Health and safety.
We reach out to others, doing what we can to help our fellow man. We WAKE UP. We PITCH IN. We remember how much we care.
One of the many images I saw on the media coverage was the flooding of Ground Zero. Water pouring into that sacred space, adding insult to an already painful wound.
But it was a reminder to me of another time, when the Towers fell, and we all stopped, held hands and sent up a collective prayer of healing and love. We stood as one. We would not be destroyed by violence.
Nor will we now.
We will wake up, love….pray. Together.
The sand will be swept away, the ships and boats returned to the ocean. The fallen trees chopped and hauled away. The damage cleared, the homes and buildings restored and the boardwalk rebuilt and celebrated.
Strangers will work together. Politicians from opposite sides of the table will get along.
And then we will forget.
Until the next time.
So here is my prayer for all of us, in the wake of Sandy, the disaster du jour.
I pray that not only will we wake up, love, and pray, but that we will remember.
That when the sand settles, we will still pray for each other, for our safety, for our health and well being.
I pray for a time when it will not take a disaster for us to get along.
That there will not have to be destruction before we build a future together and put aside our differences.
I pray for a time when Nature doesn’t need to unleash her heavy hand before we are joining ours together.
I pray for a day when Hate does not need to start a war before we remember that we are one, and that we are united in love.
I pray that when the land is dry, we will remember why we cared in the first place. We will remember what is important.
What we are grateful for. Our families. Our health. Our simple rituals. Those day to day moments that we take for granted and forget to even notice.
I pray that we won’t need nature’s alarm clock to live Awake, in Love, in Prayer…
and in Gratitude.
Amen.
