Windy

My goodness me the wind was strong today! Thing about that is it can be an advantage or disadvantage. And what was strange was that I didn’t really notice how strong it was on the top of the hill. It was down in the valley that it was a bit of a challenge, which is not what I was expecting. Perhaps the valley acted as a wind tunnel, I don’t know. In some ways the wind was a welcome relief. It was warm day for a walk, but the blowing of the wind in my face acted to cool me down. Could have done with it yesterday when out for a run. That would have been great! So today the wind was an advantage. But it’s not always so kind. Running into a strong wind is just hard work. Put the wind and the rain together and it can get desperate. If you’re going with the wind though, that’s a different story. It becomes your friend. Actually the wind can be a friend in many ways. In the days when washing was hung out to dry (actually we still do that) a bit of a breeze helps. Flying a kite requires some wind. And sailing relies on it. Gareth, my best friend at school had a mirror dinghy (it’s a little sailing boat just in case you didn’t know). Occasionally I’d get to go out on the boat with him. What I never understood was how it was possible to sail a boat in opposite directions using the same wind. But it is, because we did it! The worst thing that can happen to a sailing boat is…no wind! The wind blows where it will. And sometimes it doesn’t blow at all. Sometimes in life it feels like we’re being blown about by things beyond our control doesn’t it? Things come from seemingly nowhere to knock us of course. We feel like we’re fighting hard just to keep going. Sometimes, though, it feel like everything is going in our favour and we feel like we’re riding the wind. And then, without warning it changes. We’re being blown about from a different direction. “The wind of this world can push around, folding us up, backing us down” sings Bebo Nroman. Too right Bebo. He doesn’t leave it there though. He knows a truth that you and I both know too. There is another wind, the wind of a different world, a different kind of wind that blows. A wind that blows on people like you and me to give strength and encouragement. A wind that picks us up and carries us in the difficult times. A wind that will always help us the best way we could go, even if that means changing our way. It is the wind of a kind, generous and irrationally loving God. And it is his gift in a world where other winds blow. A strong wind today on a walk spurred me on. But the wind of another world will carry me all the way home!