Praise you God in the mountain

As I walked today in the foothills of Black Mountain, high above the wounded and wonderful city of Belfast, full of worries and concerns about pandemic, politics and health, I came across this scene and it struck me that I was looking at a prayer!

Creation itself was drawing me to pause. I know this because the sight stopped me in my forlorn tracks. I stood for a few minutes and did nothing at all but take in the scene in front of me. As I did, I allowed my senses to open up and wash over me. I was struck by the vivid verdant grass and the mirror-like quality of the small pond of water below the strong branches of the trees with the song of mountain birds echoing off the canopy above me. The perfume smells of flowers and gorse, paradoxical in its tropical coconut aroma, soothed my tired bones and weary heart. A prayer of praise rose from within me:

Praise you God in the mountain, for raising our eyes to heaven

Praise you God in the flowers and the gorse, for anointing us with scents so sweet

Praise you God in the waters, for slaking our thirst of body and soul

Praise you God in the breeze, for cooling and calming us

Praise you God in the solitude, for bringing us face to face with ourselves and with You

Praise you God in those we meet each day, for giving us opportunities to love as you love

Praise you God in the struggles of pandemic, politics and health, for giving us a consoling God to cry out to 

Praise you God in all things, for giving us life itself

Praise you God

Praise you.

Amen