I realise that for many of you the weather made it impossible to go to the Women’s World Day of Prayer yesterday, amazingly the area where I live is snow free! And ours did take place but with a very reduced congregation because of the cold wind and weather warnings. My concern is that the money raised at the Women’s World Day of Prayer for projects and grants will be very poor because of the weather conditions, not just from us but across Europe also having the same weather fronts to deal with.
It was rather ironic that the material came from a hot country although I have to confess to not knowing where Suriname was and had to look it up. It’s in South America!
Their theme of “All God’s Creation is Very Good!” focused on creation and our responsibility to care and look after it. But we only have to look at the world to see how we are polluting and damaging the environment and how communities are being threatened by rising sea levels, and waste plastic has become a problem on such a huge scale that it blights land, sea and air, and all living creatures too.
In the Bible we read that in the beginning, God created order from chaos, and everything that was created relates to each other – there is a balance and harmony that resonates as you read about the creation, but the reality is creation is still happening today, it is not yet finished. And just as in the beginning there is still a delicate balance to creation which needs to be nurtured and the source of all creation was and still is God.
In the centre of the Suriname flag is a vibrant star of yellow, and that colour reminds me of daffodils – which brings me neatly to the fact March 1st was St David’s Day.
David was known as Dewi Dyfrwr (David the Water drinker) because he lived a very modest, frugal way of life existing on a monk’s diet of bread and water, he wouldn’t even consume meat or ale. He had a passion for the Gospel and humble living. When he died his last words were reported as “Do the little things that you have heard and seen me do”.
When we marry the example of David with his frugal lifestyle and care for people and the land – with the concerns that the Suriname Woman have shared with us, we are reminded that we as individuals can make a difference to the chaos the world is in now by the choices we make. As we take recycling seriously, making a stance on packaging and waste or lobbying those in positions of power to change policies so that the vulnerable are protected. The little things that we do can make a real difference. Do you remember a proverb that says take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves? Meaning if you take care of little things one at a time, they can add up to big things. May we take care of the things we can do and by doing so make a difference to the big things!
Creator God, do you weep as you look at the world and what we do to this incredible gift of yours?
Or do you see and rejoice in the little things that are done to make life better for someone else?
Thank you that our world has the capacity for healing and that there is always hope.
Thank you for the rainbows that transform a rainy sky and remind us that you are with us always.
May we be willing to treasure what we have, to protect it by our actions, and speak out
to make others aware that our world is too precious to be treated so disrespectfully.
It is so easy to expect others to make it right, therefore Lord, let me take on the responsibility
over actions in which I have some control and say and let caring for the world begin with me,
so that my small action could lead to real change for the better.
Amen
You can download this Prayer for the Week here
Prayers for March written by Denise Creed
