wind - Viriditas Ministries

The Year of the Wind

Thinking I would meditate
on the coming of the New Year
I went outside to sit.

What goals do I have?
I planned to ask.
What do I need to bring to an end
and what do I need to begin?
The usual human constructs.

I believed that if I sat there
long enough, quietly,
surely the answers would arrive.

But when I opened the door
there was a great roaring and waving
high up in the pines:

the North Wind beckoned.

It was stripping the last dead leaves
from the branches of the oaks
and when one landed on my foot
I found I was no match
for that kind of invitation.

Into the cold rushing air I went
seeing how pine needles and leaves
twigs and branches
rolled and somersaulted
before the wind.

The air was fiercely clean
and the sky glittered blue
through the bare branches of the oaks.

In one place on the trail
I heard a loud bang
and looking for the source of the noise
I saw an old chicken coop
black with decay
turn over sideways and fall down.

The wind rushed on, triumphant.

In another place a rotten tree
was lying across the trail
no doubt blown down in the night.

It was already home to
fungi and insects, lichen and moss
the one become many in time

and I remembered another
wind I had known long ago
one I was lucky to survive.

It lifted the roof from a bank in town
carried it for miles
and then set it down on a barn.

And suddenly I knew
from the heart of the wind
what we must do in the coming year:

Clear out all that detritus
the old debris, the old junk
clear it out so light can shine in

Tear down decaying structures
overturn what doesn’t work
blow the roof right off if we have to.

Blow over what is rotten
let it fall down
let its remains nourish new life.

If we will do this
healing can begin
so let this be the Year of the Wind.

Blessed be.

Maple Seeds

Spirit of Life, Great Immensity of Love
in which we live and move and have our being:

Now is the time
when the seeds of the bigleaf maples
fall from the trees.

They could just fall straight down,
but maples have evolved a design
that causes their seeds to twirl.

Each time a breeze moves,
dozens of maple seeds
are blown from the mother tree.

They take to the air,
twirling and twirling
until they rest safely on the earth.

There are times when we need
to let go of the familiar
and take to the air–
times when we are tossed on the wind,
afraid we will break when we fall.

Instead may we twirl.
May our journey be a dance.
May love bring us safely down to earth.

Blessed be.

Your Cleansing Breath

Spirit of Life,
Great immensity of love that birthed the stars
and washes through our bodies
with every beat of our hearts:

Now is the time when fall winds blow
singing through the pines
whispering through the oaks
rustling through the grass.

Open us to your cleansing breath.
Let your moving, changing winds
clear away our fear and confusion,
leaving us fresh of heart.

Let us then be ready to do Your work:
to bind each other’s wounds,
to share all that we have,
to mend the tears in the web of life.

Blessed be.

The Greatest Mystery We Know

For Marcia

Spirit of Life, Breath of our Breath:

Now is the time when new cottonwood leaves
tremble in the breeze,
ferns and lilies decorate the forests,
and lush peonies and roses
fill the air with sweet fragrance.

How can it be that this riot of green,
these extravagant petals,
will fade and fall,
scattered on the wind?

How can it be that one moment,
a loved one breathes,
and the next they do not?

And how can it be
that the molecules of all the departed
are then gathered into new life?

This is the mystery.
This is the greatest mystery we know.
May our whole beings be filled with awe
at the mystery of life.

Blessed be.

A Break in the Clouds

For weeks the rain has been falling
and the wind has been blowing
and everything has been coming apart.

We humans think we’re so smart:
we build roads along steep canyons,
houses in floodplains,
levees to hold rivers in place.

Then comes a winter like this one
and it

all

washes

away.

But yesterday, there were:

a break in the clouds
a frog outside the window
and buds on the dogwood on the slope.

Storm Damage

Spirit of Life, Mystery beyond Mystery:

A great storm has come
and blanketed the landscape with heavy snow.
Trees are bowed to the ground with the weight of it,
many limbs and trunks snapped completely off.

Winds that howled for days are now still,
and a hush lies over the frozen ground.
People go out to check the damage.

How often in life do great storms come,
breaking our familiar structures apart,
leaving our hearts hushed,
and littered with debris?

But then comes someone to help.
We make our way toward one another
through the frozen silence.
We take hands and survey the damage.

Together we begin to clean up.
Together we begin to make something new.

May it be so.
Blessed be.

Blow Loose Our Preconceived Notions

Spirit of Life…
Spirit of Love…
That Which Holds All…

Open our hearts.
Blow loose our preconceived notions,
like the winds blowing loose old leaves.

Help us be ready to learn
new things from one another, here.
Help us be ready to learn
new things from others, elsewhere.

Help us let the stories of others
fall on our hearts like rain—
sometimes sinking in to water new growth,
sometimes flooding,
and washing away rigid structures
that we used to protect ourselves
from painful truths.

With our hearts open and ready to grow,
may we join hands and build a faith
that honors and heals the world.

Amen. All our relations. Blessed be.

Your Cleansing Breath

Spirit of Life,
Great immensity of love that birthed the stars
and washes through our bodies
with every beat of our hearts:

Open us to your cleansing breath.
Let your moving, changing winds
clear away our fear and confusion,
leaving us fresh of heart.

Let us then be ready to do Your work:
to bind each other’s wounds,
to share all that we have,
to mend the tears in the web of life.

Blessed be.