The Wind

I love windchimes. How 'bout you? I'd buy more of them, if they weren't so expensive...the nices ones, I mean...they are expensive. I bought a new set just this last Saturday...longer pipes, deeper tones...beautiful sound!

Last night we had severe thunderstorms in the Dallas area, and several tornadoes touched down, though I haven't yet heard about any major damage or casualities (thankfully). My windchimes weathered the storm, and were hanging quietly from the back of the house when I left for work this morning.

Wind can be a fickle thing...gentle and quiet one moment, ferocious and threatening the next...

I've always been fascinated by the wind...I love it actually. It can be bothersome to your hairdo, blow away your paper plates during a picnic, throw cars and boats around like tinker toys, or gently kiss your face on a quiet spring day. It's mysterious and wondrous, and for me, carries with it the sense of our Creator's presence.

Sometimes I sit outside on the deck behind my house, and I wait for the wind to blow. I wait to hear the sound of it coming, and then look for the leaves to move and the trees to bend as it passes through. There is nothing more calming to me than the presence of God in the wind...and yet I think of those people whose lives have been tragically ended or altered by recent storms in places like Missouri, Oklahoma and throughout the country, and I realize how vast is the mystery of the world we live in. The wind that was once pleasant has become, for those effected by these storms, a source of pain and loss. It's a very sad thing.

There is such a fine line sometimes between that which is good, and that which is hurtful. Holding the tension between the two can be very difficult. I'm praying today for those who have lost their lives, their loved ones, and their belongings...praying that comfort will come to them like a gentle breeze, and soothe their aching hearts.