hearingnseeing
Hearing and seeing God in everyday lifeArchive for wind
Blessing of Laughter
I learned something last night not from a screen. Old school, I know. I was lying in bed next to my daughter — it was later for her than usual and she had hit that point of too tired to fall asleep right away. Our black cat came to visit us, which is rather rare for this non-lap cat, but he did let me pet his face for a while. When the cat had had enough, he just ambled away over the lump of my near-asleep girl’s belly. There was not the usual, Ugh, get off! or the push to move him away faster — and how is it that cats have no manners at all?? What happened, though, was this noise hard to write about. My daughter just like expels this air forced out by a 10-pound cat, kind of like a, P-uhhh. Man, did that strike my funny bone. And in absolute seriousness, half-conscious, she says, That is not funny. Which, of course, made it more funny, to which she replies, Just go to sleep! Poor girl — and I wonder, will she even remember this morning?
So I laid there shaking the bed, trying not to make noise, but really laughing. What a silly thing to strike me, right? But as I lay there wiping a tear on my pillow case, it occurred to me that the same muscle and mechanism used in that kind of belly laugh is the same for the gut-wrenching, body-wracking sob. This, for me, is true. I just hadn’t thought of it like that before.
What a capacity we humans hold for great and deep feelings, good and bad!
Elijah of the Bible hit a low point, ” I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and scattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave . . . and then the Lord spoke with Elijah giving guidance and comfort as the story continues. You’ll have to read it yourself in I Kings 17-19)
The same God who creates the powerful wind also has an unbound capacity to speak in a gentle whisper. Don’t you love this? May God grant you the blessing of laughter today! But if it is your time for those far darker moments, may the Lord bless you with his powerful and gentle presence, whispering, comforting, guiding.
Dust devils
I’d do well, I believe, on the ocean, on a mountain top, and in the middle of the prairie — give me wide open spaces. Being able to see a long way is fresh air for my soul. I drove through Tennessee one time — one highway, one looooong line of trees and nothing but. Thought I’d suffocate — nothing to see but trees. Bet it’s nice in the fall, though.
Yesterday’s drive through the prairie was refreshing. Ever seen a dust devil? They were all around us. The heat and breeze just whipped them up all over. There was one particularly large one probably several hundred feet high. From our vantage point, we could see the swirl of dust going around like a mini tornado leaving a horizontal wake of kicked up dust behind it. It was probably 50 feet in diameter. They say these little whirlwinds go 20-30 mph internally, maybe up to 50 mph, and are generally more nuisance than destruction. We watched this very large one for probably 10 minutes — you can see them from miles away — and then it just lifted off and vanished, the dust “ghost” becoming more translucent in the following few minutes and then was simply gone. I was left wondering what it would feel like to have one of those go through me. Then again, the last dust storm I had to walk through left dust in my ear that I couldn’t get out for days.
This is me and my teenage kids lately. They are the dust devil; I’m left with the residue and tangled (graying) hair. Then, miraculously, someone has a God-inspired ah-hah moment, and life resumes peacefully until conditions, once again, are primed for plumes that dot the whole landscape.
Isn’t life amazing? It’s Monday, everything is back to normal. There is homework and deadlines and purpose and appointments abounding for the week. No doubt there will be these tornaditos for many years to come, but this morning, at least, the skies are clear, the air cool, and Christ is working confidence in me to navigate this present life once again. From this morning’s time spent in quiet reading of Scripture ~
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.” Isaiah 26:3-4
Tornado
Where do you start to talk about the devastation of a tornado? I still haven’t been through one, but I was right under the storm that caused many. While huddled under the stairwell in the dead of night, I became acutely aware of the quiet for the second time.
The first occurred immediately after the power went out. In spite of the wind, rain, hail and thunder outside, the house became oddly silent without power. How do you hear power anyway? I’m not sure, but you can sure hear its absence. The phone was dead as well. It was during this time I gathered all my loved ones to shelter in the only still-not-so-very-safe-place in this old house.
While we sat closely together, all having caught our breath and settled in, the second silence came. The leaves on the trees quite rustling. The strobe light in the heavens remained on while its music played mute. No rain. No cars passing. No dogs. Nothing. Nothing but building vacuumous air sweeping up to land with a vengeance elsewhere.
Of course, the eye passes and the horror continues even if something inside you says the worst has passed by. Or at least you hope so.
I think of the men on the boat with Jesus in the middle of the sea. I, too, had friends who slept through the whole thing. (?!) If I had known, I would have texted them to wake up and seek shelter! But the disciples sought Jesus’ help. So Jesus got up and rebuked them both, the storm and the fearful ones.
My take is this: If the disciples were afraid during the tempest, they should have been absolutely stunned with its unnatural repose after Jesus words. I was. The power exhibited by the instant calm was something I couldn’t express, now or then. It was immense and demanded my worship of He who created it and in whose hand my life and the lives of my children, friends and community were in.
Even if God’s power and grace were the greatest imprints left after this storm, I am not quite ready for another. I am in need for a repose myself, like only God can give.
Psalm 19:1 (NIV) The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Wind
Have you felt the wind this week? It has covered much of our country leaving damage and heartache. We did not have tornado warnings in our area, only high sustained winds. The dust was like fog, and it mattered not whether you wore your hair up or down. They were clearly what my grandfather called “dress-up” days.
As a child we lived in a tiny trailer whose roof rumbled with the wind causing me to have night terrors. Not too many years ago, I, again, lived in an old, small double-wide trailer. It was the sort of dwelling that forced you to hear the wind as well as feel it draught through the poor windows. I can remember many nights just laying awake listening to the wind and barely tolerating it. One specific year we called it the “long winter” after Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book, and indeed it was much like that with the snow and wind. It was awful on my psyche. I hollered a lot during those years and simple joy in my life was absent in the presence of heavy winds. A big part of it was hearing the sounds of the wind constantly and not ever being able to fully tune it out. I worried and fretted.
We moved away from that valley tunnel of wind to neighbor tornado alley ~ not exactly a step up. The house we bought was over 100 years old. It had been updated and renovated, obviously, but I soon discovered that it was “tight.” Shortly after moving here I journaled about the wind, desiring to make peace with it. I learned I could take the wind better if I felt secure where I was at, if I could have moments of quiet and stillness in spite of the havoc out my window.
Do you remember Elijah having the incredible experience on Mt. Carmel and then fleeing out of fear for his life? Do you remember God showing himself to him not in the mighty wind, earthquake or fire, but in a gentle whisper? There is great power in those forces of nature. Yet through the gentle whisper, God’s presence appeared. I believe Elijah learned something about security and safety in God during that time. And for this time, me too.
Now when the winds come, as they regularly do, I am mindful of a great blessing in my life with this house. It’s analogous to my relationship with Christ, though, an even sturdier indwelling.
Isaiah 30:15 (NIV) “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” The Sovereign Lord
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