Reflection for Today ▶️ ⏩ ⏹️
Wave (pastel on black paper) by Tobias Mayer, 2022
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. / Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. / And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
— Genesis 7:12/20/24
Lockdown. The movements and freedoms of Noah and his family became severely restricted, and all they had known in the before-the-flood time was gone. Today we experience our own flood, perhaps best described as a flood of panic and hysteria, a rain of confusion from a reign of hubris. This flood confines us, like Noah, to our homes, not knowing when, how, or even if it will end.
Noah stayed hopeful, and once the rain stopped he sent out birds to test how far the waters had receded. A metaphor perhaps, for reaching out, seeing what else is out there, who else is out there, what connections we might make. If you're feeling isolated today, send out a dove.
Our flood will recede, and once the waters settle back into the earth perhaps we'll experience the same beauty that Noah and his family were blessed with: a clean start, a rainbow, a new covenant.