The water was calm when we walked by the lake yesterday. Ever so slightly rippling in the gentle morning breeze.
Not like last week.
Last week, the winds were high, blowing furiously.
The waves were thrashing about, almost creating the illusion that the lake was boiling.
It was so windy that my air conditioner cover blew away.
Twice actually.
The first time, my neighbor called me and asked me if it was mine. It had blown across my lawn, over his back porch and wedged between his porch and his garage.
I put it back on my air conditioner and secured it with rocks to keep it in place.
And the next day it blew away again.
This time I didn't get so lucky. I have no idea where that cover is now.
When the wind died down, I walked the neighborhood looking for it. No sign of it anywhere.
I'm told I don't really need one anyway. A piece of plywood over the top of the air conditioner to keep the snow out should suffice.
I'm good with that. I can make that adjustment and move on.
I thought about how this happens sometimes in life.
The winds pick up and blow everything around.
Pieces of our lives end up scattered across our lawns, in our neighbors' yards, or gone to who knows where.
Sometimes the things that blow away are important to us. We cared about them, and it makes us sad that they are gone.
In those times, we grieve. And that's okay. In fact, it's necessary.
As long as we can right ourselves when the winds calm.
Find ways to be grateful for how those pieces of our lives served their purpose and brought us joy.
And then there are the things that we didn't really need anyway.
Those things that holds us back, cloud our vision, and keep us from being our best selves.
Maybe it's the limiting beliefs we carry with us from our childhood, or the negative energy from the news we watch, or the clutter surrounding us in our homes.
Sometimes it takes really high winds in life to blow those things away.
To force us to get out of our comfort zones and away from those obstacles.
I used to hate the wind.
The way it whipped my hair around and made it hard to move forward.
I can't say I love the wind now. I still don't enjoy having my hair whipped around my face.
But I appreciate it more than I did back then.
I can see the power and the beauty in how it can transform nature and reshape our world.
Now when I pick up debris from my yard after a windstorm, gathering branches and garbage and miscellaneous stuff that blew in from who knows where, I smile to myself.
There goes that wind again...forcing us to change and grow.
Feel the power in it.
Let all that stuff go that no longer serves you.
Just be sure to secure the things you want to keep!
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