Many years ago I remember sitting near the radio listening intently to A Prairie Home Companion. Garrison Keillor’s soft, soothing voice told of his childhood days in Lake Woebegone  and their yearly assignment of their "storm home". Their storm home was the place the children who lived in the country would go if the weather became too dangerous to go home. It was a beautiful story of the home each of us longs for not only during storms but every day. The light was on in the window in anticipation of our arrival. As the door was opened, we are welcomed in with joy. The fire is glowing warmly in the fireplace, delicious aromas float in the air….a promise of all our favorite comfort foods. After dinner, a bed stacked high with cozy warm blankets is waiting and we are tucked in with love, a good story and a prayer.

I thought of this story yesterday as the snow was flying, the wind was blowing and travel became more and more treacherous. Of course, Garrison’s storm home is a fantasy created in his magnificent imagination. But it represents for each of us that iconic vision of home….that place where we will be safe, fed, warm, sheltered….but most of all welcomed unconditionally. It is an ideal for the majority of the world. We know that each day children are not welcomed into places of safety, adults are not well fed or held in loving care, and more people than we can imagine go to bed hungry and without anyone to tuck them in.

But that fact doesn’t keep us from hoping,praying, longing for a storm home for all those people….and ourselves. These prayers of compassion, followed by action of some kind can and do make a difference,I believe, perhaps not in the larger system but in individual lives. Each time we make a donation, take food to the emergency food shelf, volunteer at a shelter we create a form of storm home for someone.

In a few weeks we will hear once again the story of the Prodigal Son. This story, I believe, holds so much of our faith story and our spiritual struggle. It holds the anticipation of personal freedom, a call to responsible living, our self-centeredness, our desire for adventure, the ability to get it right and at the same time oh-so-wrong. It tells of our selfishness and our creativity, our connection and desire to want to be "loved best". We could spend a whole year on this story and still be mining God’s wisdom.

But above all this story tells us that no matter what, no matter where, no matter how, no matter why, The Holy One is always present…..with the light on, the meal prepared, arms outstretched, welcoming us with joy and unconditional love to our storm home. "Will you, God, really live with people on earth? Why, the heavens and their own heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built…Listen to the cry and the prayer I make to you today, day and night let your eyes watch over this house, over this place of which you have said:My name shall be there."(1 Kings 8:27-29)

Have a warm and safe weekend….and remember to leave the light on. Someone may be coming home.

I am blessed to be sitting  in my home this morning watching the snow come down outside my window. I am blessed that I really didn’t need to leave the house and drive through traffic to get to the office, that I have the ability of "telecommuting", doing work on-line, by phone. I recognize this blessedness and offer traveling mercies to all you who must go out as you make your way about the roads.

I have stacked all around me new books just purchased yesterday, books of poetry and prayers, one of which is by J. Philip Newell entitled Celtic Treasure. It is a collection of scripture and prayers to create a pattern of devotion in daily life. Each day begins with lighting a candle, naming the Spirit’s presence, silence, scripture, silence, prayers, blessing the day and extinguishing the candle. Simple. A wonderful rhythm to embrace.

One of my favorite places is Clare’s Well, a retreat farm near Annandale run by Franciscan sisters. I have retreated there a few times and always am enriched by the quiet hospitality, fabulous food,morning and evening prayer and the gentle rhythm that exists in their daily lives. I have always longed for that simple rhythm of those who live in religious community, their prayer life, and their intention to practicing the Presence of God. The sisters also live very close to the Earth, gardening, farming, and watching for how the Holy moves across their little piece of the prairie.

Perhaps today is a day to embrace that kind of rhythm. Today could be a good day to light a candle, name and claim the Spirit’s presence, have silence and prayer and watch how the Holy is moving outside our windows. This snow which may seem like such a bother is actually sorely needed for the Earth to bear spring fruit and the fullness of summer flowers. So, I offer gratitude to the One who has created and is creating with these words from Celtic Treasure: In the rising of the sun and its setting, in the whiteness of the moon and its seasons, in the infinity of space and its shining stars, you are God and we bless you. May we know the harmony of heaven in the relationships of earth and may we know the expanse of its mystery within us.

Blessings on your day…stay warm….stay safe.