Different From Expected

I expected a sequence: March winds, April showers, now May flowers. March was rather calm. I do have a lovely front yard in bursts of yellow, purple, and lots of white daisies. However, April ended with tree branches moving from gently to tornadoes in Oklahoma. Wind stories began surfacing with a text last Saturday from a biker doing a two day money-raising ride who mentioned his first day would have 13 mph winds on his left moving to his riding into them at the end of the day. I mentally increased the muscles on his calves and walked to the back yard to check my whirligig.

Wind is wind mostly if affecting something you are looking at like bending branches or trash moving down the center of the street. I had seen tall sculptures with bent cups in the botanical garden at Steamboat Springs. They seemed to turn on themselves like a not-quite-believable Escher drawing. In Santa Fe, I discovered a variety of options and treated myself to one for my yard. Amazing! Even if my cheeks felt nothing, the cups caught a slight moment of air and created motion. Strong winds gave a whirling delight. I did take Whirly out of the ground and put it in the garage for a hurricane.

One wind property I discovered by accident. A friend and I drove her four-wheeler as far as we could in Canyonlands. Balancing ourselves against the wind, we walked across the rocky access to look down on the confluence of the Green and Colorado River. I felt the wind on me; I heard nothing. Wind whistles as it moves around impediments. The noise comes not from revving the engine, but from having to put on the brakes or swing around a curve.

Quips about the wind are almost endless. Pick one for your day. Tossed by the wind. The smell of a hot supper waiting was carried on the wind. Throw caution to the wind and just do it. Survive by bending with the wind. My favorite has identified me at various times and also gives me options. The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sail.

It’s a two instead of one day. Yes, the John verse is true and certainly appropriate. I just couldn’t seem to not remind you to read 1 Kings 19: 11-14 if you wish. The “great and powerful wind” is impressive. What counts at the end is “the still small voice.’

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

John 3:8