Swayed By the Wind

Resilience. Adaptability. Tolerance. Capacity for change. All good virtues, right? Except when they go too far and allow for too much tolerance for the wrong kind of changes. It seems we are more easily influenced by negativity or wrong doing than good. At least it seems the wrong things tend to spread more quickly than the good. Bad news, or gossip will circumvent the world faster than a good word or deed, unless it borders on the fantastical.


I notice this even in my own behavior. In spit of all my pep talks, self encouragement, and vows to be more loving, more gracious, more faithful to Christian ideals, I fall off that lofty pillar and hit hard on the fact I am often too easily swayed by the current wind.

Have you noticed when a group of people get together the topic of conversation is rarely how many good deeds they have done, or their good intentions. No, it usually starts out complaining about the weather, then about a co-worker, neighbor, spouse or child. Pretty soon this sharing goes beyond just seeking others advice to saying hurtful, disrespectful comments about those we love, and those we are trying hard to love as Jesus commanded.

I stand convicted, once again. When those winds begin to blow through the conversation, in spite of my resolve not too, I allow past hurts, anger or perceived injustices to color my thoughts and speech. Why does the wind blow toward the negative? Why doesn't it blow from the Spirit of God? I believe it does, if we open our hearts to that breath of faith rather than to the hot, sour wind of negativity. That takes hard work and practice. Sometimes we are psychically or mentally tired, or in pain, or deeply hurt and our hearts are closed.

It takes practice to see the Spirit of God in the winds of negativity and adversity. It also takes faith. One faltering step at a time. Today I will begin the practice of more prayer, more conversation with God throughout the day, telling Him my sorrows, my complaints and expressing my disappointments. I have a feeling He will sort them out far quicker and more compassionately than I.