March Winds
By: Sharon L. Patterson
It is March but this
month’s preview blew across my area less than a week ago announcing impending
unknowns with a bluster I have yet experienced in my sixty plus years in
Texas. The wind blew-HARD and it blew
all night and all day with the same velocity.
It affected changes throughout the city and in my own back yard. A garden angel lost her wing; an umbrella was
lifted out of the patio table and blown across the yard; the gate to our fence
was ripped open and the remains of what was once a lock lay scattered. Not bad considering stories of greater damage
I heard others had sustained.
There has been a lot
of blustering of news concerning changes that begin today, March 1, 2013. The forecast concerning winds of change
reaches much farther than my corner of the world. Sequestration is now more than a
forecast. It is part of our not yet
fully known reality. Everywhere we turn, no matter the mode of communication,
March winds are blowing.
It reminds me of a mighty storm that came up
on the Sea of Galilee mentioned in the gospel of Luke, chapter 8, verses 22-25.
Jesus asked a very significant question that resonates as much to us modern day
disciples as it did to the original twelve:
“One day, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other
side of the
lake. So they got into a boat
and set out. As they sailed, He fell
asleep.
A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and
they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying,
“Master, Master, we are going to drown!” He
got up and rebuked
the wind and the raging waters: the storm subsided, and all was calm.
“WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?” He asked his disciples.”
Great question! May our answer focus our faith on the Storm
Calmer, not on the storm, nor on the March winds of 2013. May we, like those
first disciples respond “in fear and amazement…,”Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and
they obey Him.”