We live on a grain farm in a section of Alberta that has been noted for the severity of its hailstorms. I have always prayed for our protection. One August evening several years ago, as I was going out to the vegetable garden, I noticed thunderclouds in the distance and an approaching storm. I felt I should deny that lightning could destroy or harm anything.
About that time it started to rain, so I returned to the house and stood looking out the door and waiting for the rain to stop. The thought of protection from lightning persisted, and I prayed—acknowledging God's presence. My husband and our two sons were working up in the grainfield with machinery, close to a fence line, and, to material sense, this is a dangerous place to be in a thunderstorm. The first lines from a hymn with words by Mrs. Eddy came to mind (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 30):
Brood o'er us with Thy shelf ring wing,
Neath which our spirits blend
Like brother birds, that soar and sing,
And on the same branch bend.
