Ride the Wind

A few days ago, I saw the most amazing thing I have ever seen! As my sweetie and were driving, I saw this beautiful eagle way up high and it was absolutely still in the air!  The wings were spread out but it was not moving; just resting on the current!  Everyone once in a while it would flap the wings maybe three times and then rest.  This eagle must have done this without moving for at least three or four minutes.  I was amazed!  I have never seen an eagle do that before ever.  I have seen them glide on the wind currents, but never be still.  It was fabulous!  Of course at the time, I didn’t have my camera, but then I have come to know that there are some things God gives me that are for my eyes only.  Whenever I see something when I don’t have the camera, I just thank God and say, “Ok, God thank you for giving that to my eyes only.”  I just knew there was a lesson there.  It was hard to even explain the feelings I had when I saw that, but I knew God was speaking.

Then…yesterday I just got back from a road trip with a friend.  We were gone for two days with our cameras and boy did we have a blast!  When we got up to Mount St Helens and drove around one of the first corners where we got a glimpse of the mountain up close and personal, we both just gasped at its beauty!  It was just gorgeous!  I just remember thinking, “Now THIS is the life!  Being able to ride along in this beautiful country and experience all that God has for us and take a view photos of what God shows us!”  Nothing better!!!  I experienced that same feeling I had watching that eagle.

So here is the lesson…we can go through seasons that are so difficult that we lose sight of everything beautiful around us.  Instead of gasping at the beauty, we are crying in our own pity party room in the dark.  We aren’t looking up, and we certainly aren’t resting in God’s hands.  We may not like our season, but God’s hands are there holding us up with His Mighty Wind, or, giving us the beauty to lift our heads.  It was amazing to see the area some thirty years after the mountain blew, and be able to see the beauty of it now, rather than the devastation.  God has restored the area.  Listen to this…that eagle didn’t just rest there expecting not to have to do something to maintain on the wind.  He took part in flapping the wings and working with the Wind so that he could rest in it.  When we were driving, we didn’t just pass that beauty by.  Are you KIDDING me???!!!  She pulled that SUV over and we ran (well, not quite..but our hearts were willing) to catch that beauty!  The eagle cooperated with the Wind.  My friend and I didn’t just sit in the car and say, “I sure would like a picture of that.”  We climbed down hills and back up, through sticker bushes, in and out of the car, in order  to enjoy what God gave us to see.  And…it will be different for each of us!  I bet not too many others saw that eagle that particular day.  But I did.  God allowed me to see it.  I let it speak to me.  “Rest in me.  Relax…don’t fight the Wind..cooperate with the Wind…enjoy the journey.”  Let that speak to your soul.

My friend and I sure did!  We laughed, we shared great conversation, lifted burdens, ate snacks we enjoyed to the last bite, and even giggled like we were back in high school about doing it.  We looked at each other and knowing we probably shouldn’t be eating it or drinking the pop (she was much better than me with a Sobe), but then we both laughed and took a swig!  We were lifting our snacks to the good times!  That is how God wants us to live…enjoying what is around us at each moment.  I can’t eat that way every day, but I can sure enjoy it once in a while.  The snacks might not be so healthy, but living the moment is always healthy when God is leading us.  And I certainly don’t want to miss those God moments when He whispers in my ear, “Watch this.”, OR “Look at THIS!”  I want to be season and camera ready to catch it each time!

You see, we can stay in that dark season if we want to, and we can dwell on what isn’t right or working.  OR, we can choose to stop and watch the eagle rest in the Wind or the mountains that speak of His majesty and the colors that show off His artistry.  I choose the latter.  I hope you do too!

Walking the journey with you, resting on the Wind…