Against the Wind

When I was a kid and a windy day came along, my dad would tell me to grab my kite and hop in the car. He would drive me over to a big open field next to Chickamauga Lake, and we would fly my kite for hours. Daddy would get the kite airborne and then hand off the string to me, and I can remember to this day the feeling of my Snoopy kite tugging against the tether of the string as it climbed higher and higher into the sky. I can also remember Daddy popping open cans of grape soda when we returned to the car and talking to me about our adventure of the day. 

One thing you can pretty much be assured of when you live in Kansas is that there is wind, at times stronger than others, but it's rare that the air here is just completely still. When it's scorching hot out here on the plains, the wind is always a welcome respite ... but when it's bitter cold in the winter, the same wind is absolutely bone-chilling. I pay more attention to the wind now, I think, because of my nightly walks. I love nights when the wind is behind me because it seems to sort of push me along ... I walk faster with the wind behind me. But there are some nights when I'm walking against the wind, and those nights ... those nights, it seems like my walk takes twice as long and that every step is hard.

A week or so ago, I had one of those forever walks ... the wind was intense, and I found it odd that I walked against the wind both on my way down the trail and on my way back. Usually, if I fight the wind in one direction, I walk with it behind me in the other direction. By the time I finally got home that night, I was exhausted and my normal one-hour walk had taken almost two hours to complete.

I couldn't help but think as I was trudging along that evening that my walk that particular night was yet another lesson from God ... another truth that He imparted to me on my beloved walking trail. Tears filled my eyes as I thought of times in my life when I try so hard to walk against the wind ... times when I struggle against the gust of God's plan and purpose for me ... times when I strain to be the person that others expect me to be rather than allowing God's will to be the breeze that pushes me along the path He has put before me.

I've said many times in this blog that it's the simple things ... the things that seem so minor ... those are the very things that God so often uses in such monumental ways in my life. I wouldn't have thought that He would take something as simple as a windy night in Kansas to make me ponder how much He loves me ... to contemplate how much He wants me to walk with Him.

Thank You, Lord for the wind of Your love ... thank You.