Watery Reflections...

"Water, water everywhere..."
lamented the Mariner-
yet even as I revel in, celebrate
the welcome tropical rains
which watered and greened
my small corner of this world,
I know this is not so...
for wildfires rage in central Texas
where nearly a year of drought
has parched the land and
drained the rivers, ruined
crops and threatened livestock...
and Somalian refugees contine
to crowd northern Kenya where
four years of drought have
devastated the countryside and
people starve from lack of
food and water as crops wither
in the fields...
while New Orleans and the Northeastern
coast of our country struggle with
flooding, an overabundance
of the precious stuff of life,
with homes and lives lost
and everyday living disrupted.

IMBALANCES persist...even as
we humans watch helplessly,
impotently, frustrated that the
forces of Nature are beyond
our control, putting us firmly
in our place as only one of
innumerable creatures on
this planet Earth...

O God of Creation, stir up in us
your children an awareness
of our joint need...
a thankfulness for what we have
and a willingness to share
our abundance...
a compassion for the needs
of our sisters and brothers in all
places, for our fellow creatures,
for our beleagured planet itself....
Awaken a mindfulness
that our actions count...
that wastfulness here and now
has an effect on the future...
that use and abuse of precious
resources IS and must be
the concern and responsibility
of us each & all...
                 Let it be so,
                          Holy One. Let it be so.