Winds of Change

Winds of Change



“Tomorrow will be cold with intense winds from the east”, said the local weatherman.  It was that time of year when wind was a common occurrence, so it was not anything unusual, except that today the otherwise innocuous statement caught my ear and brought to mind how life changes often seem to come on the wings of the winds.



We all set out to have a wonderful and tranquil life filled with many adventures, happy days and moments making a generally great experience.  Unfortunately that scenario does not exist.  Lives filled with only sunshine and gentle breezes are the stuff of fairy tales.  Even the most idyllic trip through time here on earth has a certain amount of difficulty, turmoil and otherwise less then perfect events. 



So why are we not able to achieve the ideal.  Mostly it is our own fault.  Not necessarily overtly.  More frequently, it our reaction or inaction that creates blemishes and bruises in our psyche.  And it is those blemishes and bruises that color the rest of the journey.



When change happens it is our responsibility to assess and make additional changes to our mindset, living circumstance, work, family, lifestyle or faith that allow the changes to eventually be a positive.  We, of course, are not rocks perched on a majestic mountain, able to withstand the most severe winds and still gaze out on Gods’ magnificence.  We get buffeted, bent and sometimes broken by the winds of life.  The trick is to get up, plant your feet firmly on the ground and begin to move forward over and over. 



Death, trauma, tragedy, physical loss, loss of work, money troubles, individual relationships, age, and sin can wreck havoc.  They bring many troubling feelings and emotions; anger, self doubt, sorrow, grief, anxiety and sadness.  Yet we will experience many if not all of the circumstances in life that bring us to crossroads of change.  It is in our power, no matter how bleak the times, to have an impact at the very least on how the change will effect us as a person.  We can fold our tent, withdraw and let pity be our guide or we can open our minds and hearts to God’s plan for us. 



If we lived Ozzie and Harriet lives we would have no need to learn the lessons of change.  Yet, learn them we must.  Waking up one morning to find that you have surrendered your self to life’s events would be the real tragedy.  Events will happen most assuredly. It is how we allow them to have long term affects on us that is important.  No drug, or alcohol or other artificial agent can substitute for the inner fortitude of fighting for ones self.  That fight is THE fight. All successes come from those battles.  You can draw a clear and definite line about who you are and who you are going to be at the end of the day.  Anger, bitterness, sorrow, self doubt and many other onerous thoughts and emotions recede to a much more manageable level when they are not allowed to be consumptive and are viewed as external.  They tend to be much more momentary when not given a harbor inside us in which to grow and fester.  It is not Pollyanna to think that if one can hold events, emotions and negative thinking at arms length they will have less deleterious effect on us. 

To understand that we often stand in the vortex of the winds around us and that eventually those will subside and leave us in a more tranquil place is to have the strength and fortitude to endure this moment. Life must be handled, moment by moment until the winds calm.  One day at a time is far too big a chunk of time to deal with sometimes and would take a monumental amount of resolve to hold fast for that period of time.  Moment by moment, this instant, this minute is more realistic in the heat of the battle for self. 



Reserves of strength come to us in many ways.  With luck it comes from family, friends or spouses.  But that is not necessarily always the case.  In fact many times they are makers of the biggest winds that blow through our lives.  True strength is internal.  It is always present inside us but is buoyed, magnified, increased or otherwise intensified by external stimuli.  Good advice given and received, a supportive word, a meaningful written phrase or sentence are such things.  God’s good grace, the prayers of others and our own lack of willingness to retreat from the fight are much more powerful than anything else in our arsenal. 



Fight hard enough and your forecast will be “Gentle breezes and abundant sunshine.”