I recently had to go to Llandudno in north Wales. It wasn’t a holiday, but to visit an elderly aunt who is in hospital. Having sat with her for several hours, on the hottest day of the year, I decided to try and get some fresh air, so went for a walk along the west shore of Llandudno. It was about 7pm and the sun was low, sending a beautiful orange glow across the water. The horizon was hazy but the mountains of Snowdonia along the coastline were outlined in the evening sky. There were several groups of people enjoying the cooler air of the evening, playing in the water’s edge or chatting together on the sand.
This brought Psalm 8 to my mind, particularly verse 1:
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
All that lay before me, the blue sky, the bright orange sun, the rippling sea, the millions of tiny grains of sand and the majestic mountains – all this beauty created by God.
Whatever is going on in our lives, and in the wider world, we cannot but be in awe of the beauty that surrounds us.
At the same time as I was feeling grateful that I was able to enjoy a (very) warm evening strolling along the seashore, I was also aware that in other parts of the world, there are those whose lives have been turned upside down by seismic events, or war.
So in prayer let us come before God: Creator God, we are so lucky to have the time, the ability, the locality to see with our own eyes the wonder of your Creation, the majesty of the mountains, the calming waters and the warming sun. Thank you that we can walk along the shore, knowing that you walk with us in whatever troubled waters we may face.
We pray for areas of the world where the beauty of your Creation is marred by war, or seismic destruction. We pray people who are grieving the loss of loved ones, or who are suffering from injuries, or who are uncertain of what the future holds.
Lord God, you are a great and awesome God, whose majesty is beyond words, yet whose love and compassion is infinite and for all. AMEN