As you may have guessed, I do enjoy the panorama feature on my iPhone. It’s fun to slowly move that phone from side to side and voila! You’ve captured a 180 degree (or more) view for posterity. I usually take them of views only, but occasionally, I like to include someone I care about in the photo. After all, the panorama of my own life is peppered with loved ones!
This one was taken on a warm summer morning when we walked on the waterfront and then out onto the wharf. The sun was shining brightly, the water was glistening, and just as we strolled over to the side of the wharf facing the marina, a lovely yacht began to motor out onto the open sea.
The sails were up, the wind was just right and as it neared the pier, I could see (and hear) that the engine had been shut down. They were going to hit the water with nothing but wind for power.
But you know what? On the right day, wind is all you need. No noisy outboard (or inboard) required!
Since our move to Santa Barbara twenty years ago, I have learned to fear the wind. Hot Santa Ana gusts of up to 60 miles per hour have whipped down the canyon where we used to live, turning over lawn furniture, rattling windows and scattering unkept firepits into blazing infernos. So I have reason to fear that kind of wind.
But the wind on this lovely summer morning? Gentle, water driven, sufficient to set that elegant yacht flying across the water. As I’ve noted before in this series, what a difference a day makes.
I can tend to catastrophize sometimes. Can you? Not all wind is bad. In fact, a cool breeze on a warm day is an absolute gift. It’s a matter of degree.
Lord, help me not to overlook the gifts that are sometimes hidden in potentially life-threatening things. Give me eyes to see the potential for good that just might be hiding in a scary thing.
Finding the good in the scary: a difficult challenge, perhaps, but worth the effort–like searching for hidden treasure. With you, I pray, “Give me eyes to see, Lord! (And maybe a shovel to dig with?)”
Good add-on – a shovel, indeed!
To look for the good in all things, even when they appear scary or overwhelming – that’s quite the challenge!
Blessings, Diana!
Indeed, it is, Martha.
Taking the good with the bad popped into my mind when I read this. The wind up here in the NW does the same thing, Diana. The wind can blow trees over onto rooftops, power lines, and cars. And yet, the wind blows the dead bits off the cedars, cleaning them up. The wind blows the leaves off the trees so we can watch them spin as they fall.