Keep Your Eyes On The Wind

Today I got woken up by the sounds of harsh winds blowing through the tall trees in the back. The weatherman had warned that strong winds were expected since last night. I thought we had been unscathed and that they must have been further up Northern California. However, the winds and rains came. As I was sitting here listening to the wind, it reminded me how in a previous blog, I was talking about the winds that were barely blowing and made those same trees looks alive as they slowly swayed and the branches moved up and down. I called them happy trees. Those same trees with a much stronger wind soon became angry looking trees. They are eucalyptus trees and because the winds are reaching gusts of up to 65mph, their bark has been stripped off and it now looks like the embankment down by the creek got TP'd as strands of bark are hanging everywhere and on everything. Coincidentally, our landlord had just hired the gardener to clean the gutters out two days ago -- and now it seems everything he accomplished is now full of bark, branches and all the leaves getting ready to fall off are now fallen. Oh the destructive path of harsh winds. I keep hearing branches, bark and leaves falling on the top of the house. I'm kind of hoping toward the end of this storm this evening that everything that was blown up on the roof will be blown off onto the ground. I knew the winds were approaching, so I was able to remove items that usually sit on tables down to a safer level.

Do you think the wind makes sound or do we only hear it when it is blowing through whatever is in its path?

The wind reminded me how sometimes people come into our lives. They are like that comforting slow wind at first, but after years of whatever baggage and experiences they carry with them, their soon gentle approach turns into a raging storm and they inflict their rage and destruction on others -- whole households. Sometimes it is shocking to see the transformation happen. Quite often they leave casualties and debris (memories) behind as they leave just as fast as they entered. (After experiencing these types of individuals in my life, my discernment is getting much better.) But after the destructiveness calms, then it becomes silent again and we are left to clean up the mess they leave. If only we had a weatherman type person to warn us of what was approaching. If only our phones would vibrate and provide a deafening alert. Like the wind, it's something you can't see -- it just happens out of no where and you don't know when it will happen until you are in the midst of it. Unfortunately, I can bring to the forefront of my mind several individuals who fit the above described characteristic above.

Just the other day in one of my devotions, it referred about how things can creep into your life without you recognizing these sins or bad habits have returned. We tend to become complacent and then each of these things continue to grow and before you know it, you are in the midst of your own mess. There was a time, when I just existed in the chaos -- however now, I often do daily check ins with my heart. A lot of my shortcomings are brought to the forefront of my mind through prayer. Then when you recognize the things you could have done differently, there comes a period of forgiveness. I also do a complete recheck before I partake in the sacrament of Communion -- it's a time to recognize within yourself what needs to be restored -- it's a time to empty yourself and start again fresh. I guess for many people, a time for recheck happens with each New Year. How soon after are those resolutions broken? It's sad to say, but I need daily rechecks.

Some of my rechecks include my tendency to be impatient, critical, loose tongued (I'm working hard on this one), time management issues, selfishness, becoming dissatisfied -- even though I am very blessed, distracted, not being as focussed as I should be, letting my mind wander aimlessly on things of this world, getting upset about the things I cannot control (It's All Under Control -- working on it.), letting my prayerfulness and bible study time not be a priority. These are just a "few" examples. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we actually can be our own destructive wind. We may not see it, but we know when it has been there, because it usually leaves something in the path where it has been.