Kinetic "Daisy" wind spinner in our yard
This summer has featured many temperate days with low humidity and cool nights for leaving windows open and air conditioning off.
In Michigan, we are blessed with three seasons of moderate temperatures that provide an abundance of fresh air moving through our living spaces. We have ceiling fans in every room running year-round, keeping cool or warm air moving around us all the time.
Breezes soothe me. I have thee wind chimes around our house and I recently received a wind spinner for our backyard. The kinetic ones with fans on two sides that rotate in different directions in the lightest of breezes particularly fascinate me.
Nothing like “hearing” the wind pass through our two tubular chimes or stir our bamboo one into a gentle cloppity-clop, cloppity-clop rhythm. Even in the dead of winter, if I notice the chimes stirring outside our dining room window where I read the Bible and journal each morning, I will crack the window just a little to hear them better.
Chimes adjacent to my morning devotions spot.
Hot coffee, fresh air, and a lovely, breeze-stirred chime sets me up perfectly for my morning time with the Lord. The sounds and sensation of the wind coming and going refreshes my being, evidence to me that the wind’s author, God, is near.
Recall the apostles' reaction when Jesus calmed the wind and seas in the fourth chapter of Mark’s gospel.
“They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”’ (Mark 4:41, NIV)
Whereas God’s power over tempestuous winds speaks to the awesome magnitude of his power, I am drawn to the story of how God chose to personify Himself to Elijah.
“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1st Kings 19:11-13, NLT)
Perhaps God's gentle whisper was like the calmest of breezes or the silence in the middle of the night when all is still.
Water, woods and wind are three natural features that particularly captivate me. While we don’t live within sight of a lake or river or bordering a woods, our neighborhood is plentifully treed and neighbors adorn their homes with shrubs and flowering greenery, tended lawns and various ornamental trees and plants to keep nature close to our mutual spaces.
For wind, our chimes and spinner convert fresh breezes to a chorus for our listening and visual enjoyment. When the breeze at ground level is too slight to stir our chimes or wind spinner, I need only look to the nearby treetops to be assured that the wind is ever present, like God
Like physical space is stifling without a steady supply of fresh air, so my faith stagnates when I am closed to new ways that God is working in and through me. When I am stuck or digging into a stance that shuts God out, He has a way of opening me with his "fresh air" to let me know he is near and ready when I am.
“He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
He makes winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants. ”