Tornado Positions

Whenever there is the threat of a Severe Storm or a Tornado - and that happens pretty regularly here during Ohio summers - the well-meaning meteorologists always encourage us to go to an inside room on the lowest floor without windows. Of course, that is because it is the safest place to be during a tornado, away from falling tree branches or the fear of an EF-5 tearing your whole house away (the movie Twister messed me up as a kid). You hide away from the storm, lest you be exposed to any unwanted outside interference.

This image came to me with today's gospel, the same as on Ash Wednesday "when you pray, go to your inner room... and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you." It has the same energy. Storm's coming, better get away from the windows lest you have some unwanted outside interference. Of course, the storm that is coming is temptation, courtesy of the world, the flesh, and the devil, three things at least as bad as any EF-5. And the interference could be anything from angry mobs to a simple word of praise for how pious you look when you pray.

We have to go to our inner room, to lower ourselves to the floor even. It isn't just to avoid prying eyes, but to put our fleshy selves into humble submission before our God. Even when Elijah heard God in the still small voice, he his himself from the Lord. He had to! Elijah understood what so many of us fail to on a daily basis - God is God and we are not God, and the only proper response to that is humility.

I suck at being humble. I love to believe that every good thing that happens to me is the result of some good action I've done, and every bad thing some wannabe trying to knock me off my perch. That is why I so frequently need to retreat to my inner room. There is no one to boast to there, no one to see how great I pray and how long my phylacteries are. There is only me, a sinner and a human person, and God, that divine person who became man for me and desires to love me as a Son. In that moment, my only posture must be total surrender.

I'm blessed with a 10-month-old son, and holding him as he falls asleep is the best catechesis on humble surrender. He lays peacefully in my arms, his own arms stretched wide and open and vulnerably. His eyes seek mine out, but not to discover anything about me, simply to gaze at me and take as much in as he can. He breathes evenly and deep. His mind is present, not thinking about bills or breakfast, but just being with me. He is relaxed. All his cares are cast upon me, and he bears no burden but sleep and peace and love.

I wish that I could surrender like that to the Father. To go to my inner room, lay myself in His arms and just... be. The storm could rage all around, and even my house could uproot itself and leave Kansas, but I would be unmoved. For my God protects me, comforts me, keeps me as His own. But I have to withdraw totally to Him, no reservations, no fear, no trying to understand it all. Just do what I am asked. Rest. Be.

"Your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Help me, Lord God, to withdraw to my inmost room, to lower myself before you, strip away all pretense and all pride, and let you answer my prayers before I even ask them. Gentle Lord Jesus, thy Kingdom Come.