Don’t Fight the Wind

Dear Lord; You know Father, I think that sometimes You like to catch me off guard when You speak to me.  Most notably in the last couple of months, I’ve received Your Guidance in some of what I consider odd ways and places.  I’m guessing that some of it is that I’ve been working diligently to make myself more open to Your Presence in all parts of my life, but either way You’ve once again made Your imprint on me…

…But while I was cleaning snow off the driveway?

As You know already, we got hit with an intense little snowstorm on Sunday, complete with 40+ mph winds which made some lovely drifts to cover us up.  While I tried to wait until the winds had died down to clear the driveway, when I went out Monday afternoon with the snow-thrower there were still some pretty significant gusts making things more difficult.  As the wind was blowing across the driveway, one side was easy enough to do but when I started to try to throw the snow up on the other side, I was of course greeted with a face full as it blew right back at me and recoated the pavement.  I made some progress working between the gusts as best I could, but it seemed to be an uphill battle.

“Don’t fight the wind.” You said to me quietly.

I was a little taken aback, as I really hadn’t expected You to get involved in something as mundane as clearing snow off my driveway but I stopped for a minute and rethought it all the same.  It seemed like it was way too far for my little snow-thrower to heave the covering to the other side of the driveway, but I turned the thrower around and gave it a shot anyways.  Funny enough, the wind gave me the extra lift I needed and the piles of white soon moved aside.

After finishing up and sitting inside contemplating what had happened, it dawned on me that my experience was very much a metaphor for our relationship with You.  We struggle each day with all the earthly worries, fears and activities that seem to consume our lives, yet when we’re able to open our hearts and minds to Your Voice, our burdens become Yours and Your Will is done.  Intentionally or not, we “fight the wind” way too much, and I appreciate You reminding me of that.  Amen.

~Phather Phil