Jesus, I listened to a podcast this morning about receiving a 'second wind'. There are a lot of weather- and nature-related metaphors that spring to mind - calm in the eye of the storm, it’s always darkest before the dawn, peace like a river, every cloud has a silver lining. It’s almost like creation models for us a mirror for our own troubles, as well as a tangible image of the wisdom with which to face them.
I believe I’m at the edge of another ‘second wind,’ although by now I’ve had so many second winds I should really be a named storm. And yet at times the calm in the storm’s eye is too unsettling, and too unfamiliar, and I have to impose my own will and step again into the raging destruction waiting where the calm ends.
Today, though, I’m at peace here in the middle of it all, very much a “peace that passes understanding” that you gave to me in your grace when I lifted prayers and petitions and gratitude for your provisions to you this morning. I’m ready for the dawn - ready to touch the sliver linings. I’m ready to repeat Isaiah’s words: “You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.”
Still the waters and winds around me, and set me on the right course.
Amen.
