The Lord will guide you continually
and provide for you, even in parched places.
He will rescue your bones.
You will be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water that won’t run dry.
Reflection
Happy May Day! When researching May Day a bit, I found as I had known that it is a festival for spring as it is about midway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. In Celtic cultures, it is celebrated as the beginning of summer and a homage to the Celtic deity named Beltane. It is celebrated in many European countries with dancing and flowers as I am sure many of us have heard of dancing around the Maypole. In the US in 1886, there was a protest for an 8-hour workday by workers in Chicago on May 4. It became a day of violence and was known as the Haymarket Affair. While it did not bring about the immediate change that workers wanted, it did shine a light on workers and their conditions. May 1 became international workers day and is celebrated as such in several countries. Coincidentally we know that may day is also a signal for distress. This was adopted in the 1920’s and comes from the French phrase “m’aider” which means “help me”. Ok, so what do these things have to do with our scripture and having a more abundant life?
When I read our scripture, it evokes a calm in me just as watching my flower garden grow and change on a daily basis or sitting by a stream running through a tall forest, and the fact that God has provided these things year in and year out – sometimes the ground is dry and flowers don’t grow as well, but there is always the potential for them. I am not great with plants, but it is always amazing to me what a little water can do to perk them up. Many people brought up the theme on Sunday that spending time in nature can be a very centering activity.
The people that fought for a shorter workday were looking for abundance – productive work, but also time with their families and time to rest. They were also looking to be safer and to live longer, healthier lives. Sometimes we think of abundance as just making more money, having more stuff, but not a single person on Sunday during the service mentioned having more stuff or working more led to an abundant life.
As a matter of fact, work was listed as something that tended to get in the way, although on Sunday Bethany talked about her former student, Craig, who works doing something he loves in his music. If we are fortunate enough to be able to do what we love, work can be part of an abundant life. We know that everything good can have downsides – there are snakes out in the wild (of which I think are really interesting, but I am not a fan) and with work that we love comes with things we don’t (paperwork in my case). As we know, all of these things can be individual. I have gone to a border town in Mexico that is generally very poor. We have worked at a blind center there where people go for activities during the day, and those people are joyful. They make beaded jewelry, bookmarks etc. to sell, but they also sing praises to God and are very happy. From the outside, their lives look very difficult, but they are full of light and life. They know how to live abundantly, and they share that with others.
by Janet Waryck
For Pondering and Prayer
When you read this scripture, what did you think of? Did you think of abundance or of the parched ground? What do you think you can do to appreciate the abundance you have and to work to create a better sense of abundance in your life? Also if you missed the joint service on Sunday April 27, it is worth watching on YouTube.
Prayer: God of abundance, help us to be thankful for the joys you have given us. Help us to know that there will always be disappointments, distractions, difficult things to work through, but help us to see your blessings woven through just as we watch little sprouts pop out of the earth to turn to something amazing. Help us to have faith that you can do the same thing in our lives even when we feel that we are dry and crusty ground if we only trust in you. Amen.
