The Winds of Time

         The Winds of Time

Although all are unaware, there is a soft breeze that sweeps through the room. It circulates and freshens but remains unnoticed, for those in the room, who are brushed by the current, are focused on the task at hand. That task is the welcoming of a new life into the world. There are cries of pain that reach out to the breeze and there are words of encouragement that join them with an attempt to sooth the moment. The moving air picks up all the emotions and stress and carries them off to make room for the feelings of joy and love that fill its ever changing structure. The tears of pain replaced by tears of happiness are both dried by the gentle breeze. The breeze to accompany this newness of life from this day forward in ever changing forms. It will blow through the hair of a child at play, carrying laughter as the world slowly breezes by. It will carry the cries of that very same child when a knee or an elbow is scraped and requires a mother’s kiss. That breeze grows to a wind as it grows with the child who runs like the wind, the legs growing strong and freedom is felt. Hair flowing back and laughter released as the child accelerates into life. The wind in the hair tousled in so much fun. Waiting for the school bus, wind warm and then cold as the seasons change and the years do unfold. Weather reveals as time passes by that the wind can be a friend but at times will not be denied. Flying a kite, the wind makes the day as a child grins and runs as the dragon rises higher and the string spools away. It is time to trick or treat, but the wind drives the rain and there is disappointment for that dark night.

Each day passes by as the wind follows closely the steps of life, sometimes unnoticed as a breeze to rustle the fabric of creation or increasing its intensity to a whirlwind that can neither be ignored or dismissed. As a child the wind was kept at bay by the loving care of those charged with raising an infant. As time and life travelled on, the wind stirred the nature and desires in the mind and body of a maturing soul. As the teenage years approached the wind increased in intensity, swirling and battering, raging and roaring as did the hormones that it did assault. Not often through those years was there respite in the eye of the hurricane that blew rhyme and reason in every direction as the body overpowered the mind. Those were the years where the winds blew torrid and hot where the body swept away control as the wind sweeps through the trees in a tropical storm. It wreaks havoc and mayhem. Nothing stands against it as it goes among the trees like bodies entwining limbs and lusts with glistening sweat and fluids. No more can the wind be stopped than the natural desires of mankind can be aborted. Though the winds of adolescence may blow hot and hard there comes a time when they do abate. As the hormones of life fall away into a maturing state, the winds of time start to abate. Not that there won’t be times when those winds will rise to a tempest that will remind us of another time, but the rage of the teens will mellow into adulthood as the tailing off of a storm. The wind driven waves will be dashed upon the rocky coast. But there is tomorrow where the sun will glisten off of the sea of serenity above which the gulls float upon the currents of peace under a clear blue sky.

The winds do change as do the seasons of life. Softly they blow us to a time of together, to be shared with another and to bring new life to the world. As the changing winds of spring erase the snows of winter and warm the earth for a time of new growth, so do the winds of life prepare us in season for that same season of new growth. As with all seasons there can be times when the wind will howl as if they are wolves at the door, huffing and puffing and trying to blow the house down. These winds of life can be a strengthening force as we lower our shoulders and brace our backs and push through the adversities that are blown our way. As the wind separates into eddies and swirls, so mankind does breed little boys and girls. Some are a tempest while some soft and sweet. Some are a gentle breeze on a cool summers eve. While some bring the white caps on rough ocean seas. No more guarantees than nature provides, the winds of life provide no predictability. We have no choice in what winds we face but our reaction to them will govern this world and our place. Will you be on the edge whipped by wind and by rain or will you find the peace in the eye, all the while knowing of the wildness around you? The winds of life will try to tear those you hold dear from the embrace of safety that you lovingly provide, but you know that sooner or later you must release your grip and let them venture into the storm. You have prepared them with the best that you have, so trust that they will handle the winds even better than you have.

As the winds of time blow and you sail along there will be an end to the journey as each day has a sunset and each sunset is followed by the nightfall. There will be a time when the winds of time stop blowing for each of us. Will we sail off into the sunset as the winds of time push us from the shore we called life? Will we bask in the twilight as we sail peacefully into the night? Will we man the rudder as we steer to that peace we know awaits us, guided by a gentle breeze soft and cool upon our brow.

As we did come, so we will go. There will be tears and crying along with a gentle breeze that no one will feel because they are distracted while they say good-bye to a dear departing friend. Their winds of time have come to an end.