writer's block
Sometimes I get very much in the mood to write, but can’t think of a single thing to write about. This must be what real writers call writer’s block. Fortunately for me, I don’t have a deadline to meet and my inconsistent and intermittent writing isn’t responsible for putting food on the table. If it were, we’d be in some deep water without a buoy. Of course, were I to actually be treading water somewhere in the Pacific, I’d probably have something dramatic and life-changing to write about ... although, no computer ... or Internet access ... but I digress.
So what do I write about today?
How about the wind. Today has been a particularly windy day in north Orange County (Garth Kemp from ABC news had warned us it would be). When I left my office at the end of the day today, there was a huge pile of dead pine needles, at least two feet high, collected in front of our door. It looked like someone had swept them up and left them there, very much on purpose. But I believe it was actually the wind, swirling about and collecting the pine needles into the corner where our office sits. And then as I drove home there was debris lined up in neat rows along both sides of the roads, kept there by the countless passing vehicles of evening commuters, on their way home. Despite the mess a strong windy day can create, I like it. Yes, it knocked pine cones on to my car all day and snapped tree branches off trees, but it also cleared the air of its regular haze that tends to sit, usually immovable, just above the treetops and buildings. There’s definitely a cleansing that only the wind can accomplish. And I’m a big fan of clean. And therefore, a big fan of wind.
We have an old joke in our family, about how you can’t see the wind, you can only see the effects of the wind. Whenever someone exclaims “Look at the wind!” someone else simply can’t resist correcting, “You mean, look at the effects of the wind.” Its a highly overused and somewhat annoying Hammer-family correction, but we say it anyway. Like when anyone in the house would ask for a hammer, and whoever happened to be nearby would simply say, “I’m a Hammer.” It never gets old, even though it hasn’t actually been funny for years.
Anyway, I’m sure the wind and its effects provide some great metaphors for life (though I’m drawing a bit of a blank right now). It can be cleansing, push in the cool air or the warm air, when powerful enough it can transplant everything from small bushes to large houses. There can be no denying the wind exists ... and yet, the wind itself cannot be seen. You can only see what it has done after its been here (unless you’re a weather man, then sometimes you can predict what the wind will do, like Garth Kemp). I have heard people liken the Holy Spirit to the wind, but I think it actually a weak metaphor for Someone as powerful as God’s Spirit. And the wind is controlled by weather patterns, whereas the Holy Spirit has a will all His own. So that’s not a great example. Sometimes phases and seasons in our lives are like the wind, usually only seeing how they’ve changed us long after they’ve passed. Yes, I think that’s a much better metaphor. And actually, its a metaphor that would involve the Holy Spirit, because I believe He is responsible for any change of heart or growth of character of which we might boast, especially if the times that cause that change are difficult ones. Its impossible to get through hard times well when the Holy Spirit isn’t comforting us and praying for us.
Well, it would appear as though I came up with something to write about after all. Its probably far from life-changing, but it gave me a chance to put words together in sentences and paragraphs, one of my favorite pastimes. Thanks for reading.
So what do I write about today?
How about the wind. Today has been a particularly windy day in north Orange County (Garth Kemp from ABC news had warned us it would be). When I left my office at the end of the day today, there was a huge pile of dead pine needles, at least two feet high, collected in front of our door. It looked like someone had swept them up and left them there, very much on purpose. But I believe it was actually the wind, swirling about and collecting the pine needles into the corner where our office sits. And then as I drove home there was debris lined up in neat rows along both sides of the roads, kept there by the countless passing vehicles of evening commuters, on their way home. Despite the mess a strong windy day can create, I like it. Yes, it knocked pine cones on to my car all day and snapped tree branches off trees, but it also cleared the air of its regular haze that tends to sit, usually immovable, just above the treetops and buildings. There’s definitely a cleansing that only the wind can accomplish. And I’m a big fan of clean. And therefore, a big fan of wind.
We have an old joke in our family, about how you can’t see the wind, you can only see the effects of the wind. Whenever someone exclaims “Look at the wind!” someone else simply can’t resist correcting, “You mean, look at the effects of the wind.” Its a highly overused and somewhat annoying Hammer-family correction, but we say it anyway. Like when anyone in the house would ask for a hammer, and whoever happened to be nearby would simply say, “I’m a Hammer.” It never gets old, even though it hasn’t actually been funny for years.
Anyway, I’m sure the wind and its effects provide some great metaphors for life (though I’m drawing a bit of a blank right now). It can be cleansing, push in the cool air or the warm air, when powerful enough it can transplant everything from small bushes to large houses. There can be no denying the wind exists ... and yet, the wind itself cannot be seen. You can only see what it has done after its been here (unless you’re a weather man, then sometimes you can predict what the wind will do, like Garth Kemp). I have heard people liken the Holy Spirit to the wind, but I think it actually a weak metaphor for Someone as powerful as God’s Spirit. And the wind is controlled by weather patterns, whereas the Holy Spirit has a will all His own. So that’s not a great example. Sometimes phases and seasons in our lives are like the wind, usually only seeing how they’ve changed us long after they’ve passed. Yes, I think that’s a much better metaphor. And actually, its a metaphor that would involve the Holy Spirit, because I believe He is responsible for any change of heart or growth of character of which we might boast, especially if the times that cause that change are difficult ones. Its impossible to get through hard times well when the Holy Spirit isn’t comforting us and praying for us.
Well, it would appear as though I came up with something to write about after all. Its probably far from life-changing, but it gave me a chance to put words together in sentences and paragraphs, one of my favorite pastimes. Thanks for reading.
