Jesus said: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say, ‘It is going to rain.’ And, so, it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat.’ And it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” (Luke 12.54-56)
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Western winds blew, flew east o’er warm Mediterranean waters
and to the north o’er the southern desert dunes.
Folk knew how to perceive the coming weather,
but did not (did not desire to?) know
how to interpret the then “present time”
of Jesus’ proclamation, in word and deed,
of God’s equality of love and justice for all, alway, at all times.
Here, I think, a parallelism…
We know the seasons for hurricanes.
We know, too, their conditions;
how these great engines of nature form
o’er warm waters driven by wind in accord with the Earth’s rotation.
Yet, now, with Florence, and then Michael
(Irma, Maria, and a host afore),
how do we (can we!) not see
in their ferocity,
fueled by warmer (warmest!) and risen seas,
the bitterest bounty (and our part!) of climate change,
which, with unconscious impartiality, harms all, alway, at all times?
occasional observations of mind and heart, soul and spirit 
Climate change is clearly changing the world as we knew it!! Thank you as always for your powerful words!! Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention but it sure seemed like Michael came out of nowhere and then it was almost immediately after forming a devastating storm. Seems like there was much more talk about Florence and more time to plan and get out than with Michael!! Just terrifying for everyone that was in its path!!
Much love!
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Loretta, climate change is real. Very. The air and water are warmer. The seas are rising. Now, I am less sure about science and mechanics of the connection (though, in my gut, I believe they are related) between climate change and global warming; the latter, surely, I believe, at least in part, having human cause and effect.
As for Florence, that storm, in its slow-movement (2 miles/hour!) and its having stayed intact over land for so long (it was 18 hours after landfall that we in upstate SC got the beginnings of the next 36 hours of wind and rain!), taught me more about hurricanes, how they form and their ferocity, than I had known (and care to know!). Then Michael, literally, overnight formed into an uber-destructive and death-dealing hurricane.
Daily, I grow more deeply respectful of nature and less respectful of humankind, especially when we won’t, don’t, can’t listen and learn from our errors of poor stewardship of the globe; as the Eucharistic Prayers says, “this fragile earth, our island home.”
Love
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