The mighty one, God, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.~Psalm 50:1

Of all the words that are on the list of those to reflect on during these days of Lent, today’s word is one I have found most difficult: Mighty. And because I have found it challenging and troublesome, I believe there is probably some lesson to be learned, some wisdom to be garnered by spending time with it. Mighty.

Mighty….having or showing great strength or power. : very great. The scriptures are full of phrases that speak of the Holy and other biblical heroes and heroines being described as ‘mighty’. Abraham…David…Esther…Jesus…Paul…to name only a few of those assigned the title of ‘mighty’. Of course, there are also the mighty seas, the mighty wind that sweeps across Creation, the mighty eagle soaring, the mighty mountains rising out of the desert. Not all things ‘mighty’ are of the human nature. In fact, it may be easier for me find comfort in the mighty nature of the nonhuman. Another thing to spend time with on a personal level.

Perhaps my discomfort comes from the ways in which those we have named as ‘mighty’ have, at times, wielded power over another and ruled at times with violence. These characters in scripture are not exempt from such behavior and yet they are not necessarily called ‘mighty’ because of the destruction they created but instead by the ways in which they turned the tables over for justice. That is a kind of mighty I can embrace. 

I think of the ways in which children dress as superheroes, donning capes and stances of power and strength…mighty. Their imaginations carry them outside a world ruled by adults to the place where, though small, they can overcome whatever they perceive as evil and threatening. Places where they could save the day and be bigger and more powerful, creating change in their world. Aren’t there days when we all wish we might be able to do the same only for real but still with a really, cool cape? We also could be called Mighty on such days.

The psalmist praises the Creator for the power with which the day is birthed and for its sun’s setting…mighty. This is the kind of mighty we will never attain. Faced with such power and strength our mighty acts are in the noticing, in the looking, in the reflecting on what it means to be present to the pure gift of living, of passing from sunrise to sunset yet once again. Another mighty act is to honor how it will not always be so.

What mighty acts would you accomplish if you could? How would you muster up great strength and power? What would you do with it? No capes are being given out and the chance of flying or leaping tall buildings with a single bound is probably not an option.

But the act of simply being a blessed human on this Earth is available every day…which could be as ‘mighty’ as it gets.