Shade Tree Wisdom 10/26/09

Well, right now it’s raining, and it is predicted for the day. “Stormy”, the word reads.

But, did you see the sunrise the other morning? “Rosy-fingered dawn” came to mind. The words were used by Homer in his Odyssey as an epithet, as help for the singers who recited the poem.

But they are so descriptive of the majestic colors and simply awesome display in the Eastern sky. I’ve seen a rising sun over the waters of the great Lakes and of the gulf Coast, over the Atlantic ocean and over fields of waving grain in Nebraska, as well as often over the fields and woods of Wisconsin . No matter where, it is ever an inspiring sight. (Sleep till noon, you simply miss it. I cannot describe the sight to you. It has to be experienced.)

Another descriptive phrase that came to mind is “the dawn comes up like thunder out of China 'crost the bay”. The text comes from Kipling’s “On the Road to Mandalay”. The poem ends like this.
“On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flying fishes play,
And the dawn comes up like thunder,
Out of China ‘crost the Bay.”

Which brings to mind the first time I heard it sung. It was while I was taking six weeks of summer courses in Seward, Nebraska. One of the students was working toward a degree in music, and one of the requirements was to plan and give a vocal concert before a live audience. The exercise was to show what talents he had in selecting and presenting a program that showed his musical ability and his vocal range. One of the songs he picked was this one, and the phrase stuck, “The dawn comes up like Thunder out of China ‘crost the bay”.

All that, together with the gentle rain falling still, is the Lord speaking still. St. Paul said, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1, 20.

The promise, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter day and night, will not cease.” Genesis 8,11. Indeed, “There is no speech, or language, where their voice is not heard”. Psalm 19,3.

So the rain, or the sunrise, is God still speaking to us. Just don’t forget that.

GPD 10/26/09