Weather extremes
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Yesterday, a massive tornado tore through Tuscaloosa, Alabama, leaving a trail of tears and devastation in its wake.
A week ago, I was scheduled to be on a plane at Lambert airport in St. Louis with my son when another tornado ripped a section of roof off Terminal C as severe storms swept across the region. We had decided not to travel that day so I was at home catching part of the NBA play-offs. To be honest, I wasn’t fully engaged in prayer about what was going on outside even though tornado sirens were blaring. Why not? The local tv stations showed that our home wasn’t directly in the path of danger, so it was easy to go right on with life.
A call from time4thinkers.com’s editor roused me into action last night. “Will you get a Prayer Watch going about the recent storms?” she asked. “Sure,” I replied, “but what are we asking people to pray about? Tornados? Flooding? Fires in Texas?” “How ‘bout ALL OF THE ABOVE?” I heard myself say before she could answer! News events over the past year replayed in my mind: record flooding in Pakistan, Australia, southern France, and South Africa; record heat in Russia and California; wildfires across the southern US - to name a few! Many scientists are seeing a bigger pattern related to oceans warming as green house gases build up and earth’s temperatures climb. There are predictions that the weather extremes we’re seeing will grow much more violent over time (visit www.climateprogress.org, for news and reports).
This is definitely a time for spiritual thinkers to be awake and praying about these issues. One crucial step is refusing to be overwhelmed or apathetic - two sides of the same coin resulting in mental resignation. Mary Baker Eddy wrote to her church at the turn of the 20th century, “Many sleep who should keep themselves awake and waken the world. Earth’s actors change earth’s scenes;…” [1] So, what are some spiritual facts we can help each other be awake to right now regarding climate change and weather extremes? I hope as many as possible will share their thoughts and prayers on this topic.
To get things started, let me offer one word that rang in my thought this morning as I was praying about the environment: meekness. Jesus said that the meek would “inherit the earth.” I’ve got to believe that the earth he was speaking of was a blessed, balanced, bountiful earth rather than the stirred-up version we’re seeing right now. What could genuine meekness do to change humanity’s relationship with the environment? I think of meekness as a “moderating” quality in consciousness that tempers the aggressive tendencies and extremes of human nature. It’s interesting that both Moses and Jesus — two examples of spiritually-empowered meekness at its best — were able to calm storms and part waves, restoring peace and stability to the environment. Christian Science shows the link between the mental atmosphere we are all contributing to each day — call it the “atmosphere of thought” — and the atmosphere we tend to think of as “out there” producing the weather.
Eddy, who prayed about weather for her community and the world regularly, once commented: “the atmosphere of the human mind, when cleansed of self and permeated with divine Love, will reflect this purified subjective state in clearer skies, less thunderbolts, tornadoes, and extremes of heat and cold” [2]. We’re all contributing to this mental atmosphere every day, with every thought we think. So, tackling extremes of weather can begin now by addressing the extremes of thought that tempt us to “blow up” with anger or “puff up” with pride or “burn up” with resentment. Expressing the Christly meekness Jesus embodied is a powerful starting point for neutralizing these extremes within and without.
Message for 1902, p. 17
Miscellany, p. 265
Topics: Prayerwatch, World Issues | Tags: fires, flooding, floods, hurricane, tornado, tsunami, weather, wildfires
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Thank you all. Such helpful, healing thoughts.
Thanks for everything from everyone. I am thinking about Peter, as recorded in Matt 14:28-31. He wanted to join Jesus on he water and did, until he felt the wind and panicked. Jesus rebuked him for his lack of faith. The Science of being brings the world fears and doubts to a conclusion, showing us the way over turbulent waters and rough winds. Pacifying our own thoughts daily, reaching around the world, and following the Master’s example, words, and works will bring the promised peace to earth’s atmosphere.
Thank you for this Prayer Watch. It’s so needed. Our world deserves to feel God’s power and control because it exists and is the ONLY power and control.
It seems to me that this current pattern of disruptive weather is correlative with a subtle pattern of disruptive world-thought. Much of the world truly believes that the normal, progressive activity of mankind is responsible for global climate change and consequential disaster! For example, “Many scientists are seeing a bigger pattern related to oceans warming as green house gases build up and earth’s temperatures climb. There are predictions that the weather extremes we’re seeing will grow much more violent over time (visit http://www.climateprogress.org, for news and reports)”. I believe that this widely held point of view is the root of the problem and breeds the disruption! Our beautiful earth may in fact be going through a climate change….just as it has naturally done, for countless times, over the last 4.6 billon years. What if we all accepted this change as an integral part of a natural, harmonious progression that is in complete accord with the natural rhythm of the universe (God’s universe)! Not something man has caused and will pay the penalty for. Any “change” coming from Divine Mind cannot have devastating consequences. When human belief tries to demonize human activity and use guilt as a tool to affect change, then we are not “beginning rightly” on the side of harmonious Mind. God gave man dominion over the earth…..with no caveats! I trust that God controls our environment (including climate) and gave man the wisdom to progress harmoniously and productively to glorify Him. Let’s give mankind due credit as loved children of God and not as wicked, self-centered mortals bent on self destruction.
Hi there!
I’ve been looking at these helpful ideas this morning:
Ezek. 34:26
And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
Also from some Bible translations:
Psalm 107:29 NIV
He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.
Psalm 107:29 ASV
He maketh the storm a calm, So that the waves thereof are still.
Psalm 107:29 CSB
He stilled the storm to a murmur, and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Psalm 107:29 YLT
He establisheth a whirlwind to a calm,
Psalm 107:29 WYC
And he ordained the tempest thereof into a soft wind, either peaceability; and the waves thereof were still(ed).
And by MBE:
SH 585:7
To material sense, earth is matter; to spiritual sense, it is a compound idea.
SH 471:18-20
God is infinite, therefore ever present, and there is no other power nor presence. Hence the spirituality of the universe is the only fact of creation.
So the corrective element we are seeking is not based in trying to change destructive matter into calmer and better matter; but, to bring out the permanent truth of the Kingdom of God as never altered by the dream of material existence. His kingdom is intact and eternal and the only wind that blows there –here — is the omnipotent action of divine Love governing and “encompassing all things.”
Everyone’s prayers are still needed following the devastating tornado in Joplin, Mo and new weather reports today predicting more on the way. Mrs. Eddy says it so bluntly: “Evil is not supreme. Good is not helpless.” Our prayers acknowledging God’s laws governing the earth and all creation do make a profound difference.
After a very unusual large tornado has been reported causing damage, injury and deaths here in Auckland NZ today, I have “woken up” to my responsibility for mental alertness to every major news story. In Science and Health, MB Eddy writes (p153):: “When this mental contagion is understood, we shall be more careful of our mental conditions, and we shall avoid loquacious tattling about disease, as we would avoid advocating crime. Neither sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish error in any form, and certainly we should not be error’s advocate. …. Disease arises, like other mental conditions, from association.” Thank you Chet for your post above – “in earth, as in heaven”. If the state of heaven is harmony, it can be our constant prayer to bring “heaven to earth”. It matters less to me to know the “way” this works – but just to humbly pray to know that, however the peace of God translates itself into our local circumstances, that Thy Will be done! Love to you & us all.
Appreciate everyone’s experiences and prayers. Really makes me appreciate Jesus’ clarity about the forces of nature – that he didn’t go along with popular opinion of his day that God sometimes sends destructive storms to teach us lessons. To still a storm, he had to see nature in light of a purely loving God and understand that Love’s children are never caught in the cross-fire of a good-and-evil universe. We can acknowledge the simple truth in the Master’s prayer, “Thy will be done IN EARTH, as it is in heaven.” Rules out the belief in dualism and establishes God’s supreme government here and now.
Thank you Chet. I like this quote by Mary Baker Eddy that you shared “Many sleep who should keep themselves awake and waken the world. Earth’s actors change earth’s scenes;…” I never read that before. That makes me think that our prayers for stability won’t just help extreme weather become less violent and distructive, but also those same prayers can help violent political situations be resolved peacefully. It’s time to step up and give what we can.
Here’s my second experience. My hope is that by sharing these experiences others can realize we really don’t have anything to fear regarding weather, which can sometimes seem so out of control. Because God really is totally in control all the time in every situation!
I was driving down the road one day thinking about how silly the ancient Greeks were to have so many gods - a sun god, moon god, rain god, sea god, and on and on. I haughtily laughed to myself at how utterly ridiculous it was for them to believe in something so idiotic. But I was stopped short pretty quickly. Could I honestly say I didn’t have my own “gods” on occasion, especially when it came to the weather? I humbly realized I couldn’t. I have always known in my heart that God is the only power, as we learn in the first commandment, and as Jesus and others proved numerous times throughout the Bible. But when it came to the weather I had to admit that I sometimes thought of it as a little more powerful than God. In thinking through all of this I realized how foolish I had been in ever thinking something - anything - had more power than God, and was grateful for the corrected thought.
All of these ideas came in very handy a couple of weeks later. I was on a float trip down the Illinois River with my three children, a good friend, and her young daughter. The trip was supposed to last about 4 hours and it was a beautiful warm summer day when we began. However about 2 and half hours into it we saw some HUGE storm clouds coming our way. My friend became frightened, especially at the prospect of her daughter, who was afraid of storms, seeing the clouds and become fearful. Furthermore, I didn’t really relish the thought of being stuck on a river during a thunderstorm. I began to think about the ideas I’d had previously regarding not being like the ancient Greeks and having a “weather god.” I knew I could trust in the knowledge that God, good, is the only power. I was also thinking about how this trip was such a beautiful time for all of us to be having together, and that nothing had the right to interfere this happiness and joy. And the most wonderful thing happened. The clouds that we had been watching roll quickly toward us seemed to simply stop in the distance and didn’t come a bit closer. They simply stayed where they were. It was truly amazing to see. We had a wonderful time on the rest of our trip and made it safely to our destination. But the really cool thing was that about 20 minutes after we were off the lake, and in time for those we had passed on the lake to finish their float trip too, a beautiful rain began to fall. Nothing stormy, just a calm, steady rain. It had been an incredibly dry summer and the area farmers needed the rain desperately. I reveled in the knowledge that everyone’s needs had been met that day, and said another “thank you” to God!
I’ve been thinking about 2 really cool experiences I’ve had regarding weather. Both really showed me the total power of God. We live in an area of Oklahoma that has been given the name “tornado alley”. One evening there was a severe storm coming our way. It had been producing tornadoes so we were being told by the news stations to take cover and be prepared. I was fearful for myself and my family. I put on some sneakers because I had heard that’s what you’re supposed to do in these situations so you could walk through debris unharmed if your home was hit. I was really reaching out to God and decided to open Science and Health spontaneously. It opened to a page and my eyes immediately fell on a line where Mrs. Eddy wrote, “Eternal Truth is changing the universe.” (I don’t have access to a S&H right now so I apologize that I don’t know the page number.) It was exactly what I needed to read. It became so clear to me that I didn’t need to be afraid because God, eternal Truth, is ALL that is changing the universe! Therefore the only change going on is good, harmonious, peaceful, calm, etc. because that is what God is - good, harmonious, peaceful, calm, etc. I knew with conviction that there couldn’t be tumultuous clouds doing horrible things in this universe of God. I took my shoes off and crawled into bed. I didn’t worry about waking my children up to “take cover” because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything was OK. About 5 to 10 minutes later my husband came in and shared with me that the weather man had said the storm had calmed and there was no longer a threat of tornadoes. I was so grateful and smiled as I said a silent “thank you” to God.
I’m going to tell of my other experience in a different comment because I think my word count is getting too high! :)
I’m often guilty of the apathy mentioned above (when he was watching the NBA playoffs). This article helped awaken me to that, which will in turn help me get more engaged in praying about the weather issue in the news. Thanks.
I really appreciate you pointing out the predictions of more violent weather patterns in the context of our ability as individuals to make a positive impact on the earth. Thank you Chet.
I so appreciate these prayers and the avenue for sharing our prayers on TMCYouth. Deeply and quietly wrapping the people in Alabama in Love and affirming that Life is eternal is a way we can all share the Comoforter right now. And, yes, the great reminders from Chet and Al that world peace is already existent in our thoughts, one loving thought at a time–we can all do that!
Putting the focus on addressing these issues in one’s own thought, not “praying to change the weather” is such an important point. Thinking of praying about weather “out there” does feel overwhelming, if not impossible. But starting with aligning your thinking with the harmonious qualities of divine Love — ok, I can do that. In fact, it’s great to be reminded that I have a moment-to-moment opportunity and responsibility to do that.
And I really appreciate the idea of meekness (in a putting God first sense) — what a great approach to the day or any situation.
I’m also reminded of what Mary Baker Eddy says In her book, Science and Health: “The physical universe expresses the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals.” I’ve thought about that quite a bit lately with the recent weather events, earthquakes, etc. The importance of not only watching my own thought, but also of seeing the powerlessness and unreality of mortal, material-based thinking in the light of the power and reality of one infinite, loving Mind and it’s spiritual creation.
I love how you wrote that we have to refuse to be overwhelmed or apathetic. It’s difficult not to feel overwhelmed when storms and weather disasters are popping up all over the world. But this is a great reminder that we can’t allow ourselves to be swept up in the idea that our lives are left to chance — the chance that ours, or anyone’s homes could be in the path of a tornado or flood, or that nature could become imbalanced. Love is a constant, consistent and harmonious force. There is no room for imbalance there.
Thanks for the call to prayer. In Genisis 1 we read
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” That says we have dominion and over the earth including over bad unnatural events that God could not create. The first line of Hymn 148 I use
” In heavenly Love abiding,
No change my heart shall fear;
And safe is such confiding,
For nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me,
My heart may low be laid;
But God is round about me,
And can I be dismayed?” God is round about us all now no matter what the situation indicates at the time and we have the right to have spiritual dominion and be at peace.
That verse is perfect, thank you for sharing.
Thanks for this call to arms, Chet. It is really easy to be complacent, even apathetic, when problems seem to arise outside of my own backyard. It’s so important support harmony and peace everywhere—it’s our duty as Christian Scientists. I think of Jesus traveling around during his ministry and healing all types of people in different places. That’s how the Christ works—it is omnipotent and omnipresent. The Christ is healing communities hit by natural disasters right now. My prayers acknowledge that Christ is present and at work, and in that prayerful acknowledgment I am supporting those healing efforts. Natural disasters cannot cause discord. Hymn 179 from the Christian Science Hymnal comes to thought: “Love now is dawning over every nation; showing true brotherhood, publishing salvation, Love bids all discord cease. Conquering hate, enthroning peace, Love, Love alone is power.” Love is at work everywhere and there is no opposition to its harmony.
Nature is Soul.
I think one big error is to believe that nature acts on chance. That ANYTHING could happen. But that is not so. God, Soul, is in control, and we can let go of fear. We underlie a very calm, strong, almighty power and force, and that is God, and because God is conscious and we reflect that consciousness, we KNOW, we can SENSE, what is going to happen, and we do sense that we won’t be harmed. God LOVES us, he won’t let us feel the slightest bit of loss or pain.