Into the Wind

I'm going to be honest...my job stinks sometimes. Yes, I'm a mom of boys. Stinky is just par for the course around here! I mean, I knew that boys were going to be smelly, but who knew it started SO early! They are 4 and 6 for goodness sake. Their feet should not produce odors like that yet!! It's inhumane to boy moms everywhere!! I just got rid of diapers less than a year ago and already new stenches are creeping up all over... but hey, I digress. That's not really what I meant. Although it does add to the stinky I was referring to. 

Sometimes it's just hard! Life is just tough. On days that are literally extra stinky, your 4 yr old is climbing the walls and winter and cabin fever haven't even set in yet (I don't want to even think about what my house is going to look like in a couple months), the toilet is full (not just clogged, but FULL) of toilet paper, there are green bean casings and seeds that have been shot out of them littering your kitchen floor, shrill Dora and Diego voices are ringing in your head (they should use these videos as torture devices for insurgents I tell ya!), you were up all night with one coughing child after another only to get them quieted so you could have a coughing snot filled fit yourself, laundry is overflowing and everyone "needs" something in a different load right now or God forbid they can't wear the comfy pants to school this morning...it stinks.  I realize there are way worse problems facing us, but these are a few of mine today and there are times when they compile and make me want to cry and scream at the same time. 

I gave up this morning and stopped doing all I was doing to sit with one of the stinky ones and grit my teeth through a Dora episode, because I needed to just sit with him. I looked out the window and saw the clouds beginning to roll in. It's been a pretty calm Fall so far. I've heard they are usually much messier and colder so I've been anticipating the clouds. Today they are here and as I peered out the window longing for Dora to find those dadgum animals at the end of the alphabet a little quicker, but also enjoying the snuggles of boy number 2, I saw a bird. 

A simple thing really, but this little guy was stuck in a wind current flying nowhere fast and I instantly related. And I thought to myself, "Little momma, when those clouds are blown in the same direction that you desire to fly what are you gonna do about it?"

Do you have clouds slapping you in the face? Or maybe they are chasing you from behind? Perhaps you haven't turned around in a long time, and when you do you realize that there is a wall of treacherous thunder clouds staring you down, trying to sneak in to steal your joy and stability.

What's going to be your course of action? What's going to be mine?

I heard a quote by William Arthur Ward a long time ago and parts of it have always stuck with me. 

• "The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." 

Many others have taken that quote since and added and morphed and shortened it to say something like "We do not direct the wind that blows us, but we can set the sail." Even then, sails can be adjusted to do many different things. 

My little bird outside the window fought hard for awhile. Pumping small but strong wings into the face of his adversarial wind. Has that ever been your course of action? I'll admit it builds endurance. It can also wear you down. But sometimes we fight. And that's good.

Maybe we look for ways to outsmart the wind? We dart around it or find a way under it's intensity. It's good sometimes when necessary to use the brain you've been given. Beat the odds and keep the course.  

But this little guy eventually did something that I'm not sure is always the easiest or our first choice. He changed course entirely. When the chance presented itself it swung it's little body around and let the wind carry it. 

How long has it been since you let the wind maker carry you? Maybe somewhere unexpected, maybe where you didn't set out to go. But none the less, in the direction He intended. That doesn't mean we stop using the wings we were created with. If we did that we'd fall right out of the sky! But instead of flapping and fighting, we use them in a different way. We stretch them out and we soar. Maybe the rain comes and makes us stop all together and find a little shelter and we have time to evaluate just what comes next, but maybe we just let Him sweep us up and deliver us where He wants us to be! 

So here's the deal...is the wind and rain smacking you in the face? Is there a huge lightening storm on the horizon exactly where you wanted to go? Heck, do you look at the forecast way too much and are you terrified to even leave the house? 

How are you going to set your sails? Are you ok with being at the mercy of the one who makes the wind? Fix your wings! And at least be content with the promise and blessing and direction that God gave us through James.

• James1:2-7 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Don't be tossed by the wind! Ride it!!