Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Sawguin Creek from Marsh Rd., Prince Edward County, Ontario

Bless the Lord, O my soul.
    O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
²     wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
³     you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your chariot,
    you ride on the wings of the wind,
⁴ you make the winds your messengers,
    fire and flame your  ministers.

    Psalm 104

This morning I dropped Ruth at her place of work in downtown Belleville and then headed across the Bay Bridge into Prince Edward County. I found my way to Marsh Rd. which is passable by vehicle only a few months of the year because it is snow-covered and unploughed in the Winter and flooded in the Spring. Last year the water levels of the Great Lakes were so high that we took our canoe and paddled the length of the road with an least a metre of water beneath us most of the way.

The road is flooded now and the water level is higher than my rubber boats, so I could only walk a portion of what was a soggy causeway through the marsh. Instead I sloshed briefly, then simply contemplated under the big moody sky. The red-winged blackbirds were everywhere, and a few mobbed an osprey as it drifted away from his/her platform. Oh yes, there was a smallish snapping turtle making its ponderous way across the road... why does the turtle cross the road?

A swallow came very close to my head, perhaps out of curiosity, and I was startled when a swan took off behind me with a great woosh of wings. The cattails are still last year's skeletons so they clattered in the light breeze. The effect of all this on my spirit was both soothing and exhilarating.




I pulled my travel bible out of my backpack, along with a prayer book by J. Philip Newell, the Canadian ex-pat who now lives in Scotland. I also read a portion of Psalm 104 and Job 38 for good measure. I probably wasn't there for even 45 minutes, yet it seemed as though my day and my world had righted itself.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.

 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
    they flow between the hills,
¹¹ giving drink to every wild animal;
    the wild asses quench their thirst.
¹² By the streams^[the birds of the air have their habitation;
    they sing among the branches.
¹³ From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
    the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

           Psalm 104