When You "Haven't the Foggiest," Look Again!

Airports close, ships collide, and cars crash when fog rolls in. But fog brings blessings too. Giant redwoods would die if they couldn't collect fog droplets, which drip moisture to their roots. the Scottish pine "feeds" off the fog, drawing essential minerals through its needles. the Welwitchia plant in the Namibian desert survives for rainless years only by waiting for a coastal fog to moisten its dry leaves. The tenebriond beetle drinks fog moisture collected on its back, and the dune beetle digs trenches perpendicular to the fog's wind to collect the precious droplets. The village of Chungungo, in the Andes Mountains, finds its only source of water in fog moisture trapped by huge mountainside nets dripping sixteen thousand gallons daily!

Our wondrous world is full of nature's good-news-bad-news activities. Lightning volcanic eruptions, blizzards, earthquakes, and heat waves all seem treacherous. But they carry countless blessings for our great earth's general climate, environment, and incredibly delicate ecological balance.

Likewise every personal "disaster' - from an ingrown toenail to terminal cancer, from a slight misunderstanding to a shattered marriage - is a good-news-bad-news event. The good news is: "The Lord works out everthing for his own ends" (Prv 16:4) and also for our own good in this life or the next. But this is only for those who love God and thus try to conform to his will: "In all things God works for the good of those who love him." (Rom 8:28).

This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.net