Wind

It’s fall! I have been enjoying everyone’s posts talking about the season ahead, the sweaters, apples, cider donuts and the ever-popular pumpkin spice latte (note to self…I need to try said latte…as it seems to hit almost everyone’s top fall list…how have I managed to miss this apparently live changing experience!?). Transition days like this always make me seek a moment to reflect on what has been and set my eyes on where I am and where I’m going. It isn’t just New Year’s Eve where new habits and intentions can be planned, where mind shifts can be focused on …. why not today too?   

So, I paused on my back deck and took in the glorious day. Trees have been touched by the change of color, but aren’t fully ready to show their bright reds and oranges yet. The squirrels are busy stashing their nut supplies. I’ve never been convinced they remember where they put them, although they seem to survive so I guess they remember something…. amazing. The birds are going mad, the construction on the house next to me has mercifully stopped for a moment, and in a shocking turn of events, the seeds Lucy and I planted to grow Brussels sprouts are actually growing. This, is no small miracle because as excited as we were when we started that endeavor, we lost our focus months ago, and so they have grown without the loving care of invested gardeners. All this to say, wow, check out the world going on around us.

I have forced myself to sit still and pretend that the dishes in the sink and laundry strewn across the girls’ bedroom floors don’t exist. I’m just sitting with the birds and the random Brussels sprouts. There is a gentle wind that keeps sweeping through and carrying with it the change in season. I’ll admit my first reaction to the wind was to grumble a bit. If only the wind would die down and stop blowing in the cold weather. I’m not fully ready to leave behind the warmth of summer. Now all I could think about was how the wind was messing with my moment. And yet, did it, was it the wind that was clouding my view of this idyllic moment, or was it me? That’s what I think faith is often like. We get to choose daily if we are going to let what blows through give us more strength, sweep through us and leave us filled, or knock us down and leave us cold and empty.

There is an aliveness in the wind that can help us feel invigorated and refreshed. When Madeline was a tiny baby and I couldn’t get her to stop crying, I’d often take her outside. Once she felt the wind brush against her face she’d giggle. I have no idea why she would do this, but it worked every time. There was something about the unfamiliar feeling that impacted her senses in a way that turned her view around. Instead of fighting against it, she just experienced it as it was. God’s kingdom, all around us, is so often just like this, a matter of perspective. We can open our eyes and see it, experience the power of a gentle breeze, or we can think about what it is stopping us from doing, or how it isn’t what we wanted out of our day or moment. We can let in and let it change us, or we can miss it altogether.

God has given us our senses to experience the power of the world God created for us. God wants us to lean into the beauty of the world we get to live in. The wind wrapping itself around the tops of the trees and sending ripples through the tree branches is a gift. The breeze that changes the direction of the piece of hair that keeps flopping down from my ponytail, is real and alive. The motion in the world around us has an energy that God has given us to refuel if only we see it. If we feel the wind and let it move us, we get to experience the alive love that God has for us. We get to see the tiny miracles that fly around us. We get to change our view from one of irritation to one of giggles. Let the wind change your direction, your view. Let it remind you of God’s power and life-changing presence this fall.