I am Thankful for the Eye of the Storm

Life is a journey. We don’t get to stop until the final benediction. In my youth I had a saying when asked how I was doing. “I’m going to keep on keeping on until I can’t and then I am going to die and go to Heaven.” The journey is full of storms and beautiful blue skies, hazy mornings and glorious sunsets. Of late, I have considered that perhaps I am traveling in the eye of one huge storm. There is peace in the eye of the storm; there is also a danger blowing close by.

Sometimes the storm presses in suggesting I am moving too slowly. Often I get to lift my head, stare into the sky, and rejoice in the beauty of creation. And the storm moves on. As it moves it spawns more storms. Sometimes these storms are all about me and those I love. Often they are none of my business but they swirl and hurl threats none the less. I need not be the objective of the storm to qualify as collateral damage.

My point is not woe is me. My point is that we all live in the eye of storms. Sometimes the furry overtakes us and we huddle until it passes praying to just survive. But most of life is spent in the calm, knowing the storm moves along with us but keeps its distance until a most inopportune time.  Sometimes life is so rich there we forget there ever was a storm, but it lingers yet.

It is in the storm we discover peace, not the absence of violence but wholeness in the face of destruction. It is in the storm we learn to trust. It is also there that lessons in humility are most effective. The eye of the storm offers rest and beauty, but it also keeps us in the tension between calm and tornado. Perhaps we can best live life to the fullest in the eye of the storm. I know the journey there is never boring and almost always full of blessings, blessings unnoticed without the storm.

Of late, I am thankful for the eye, but I am also aware some are caught in the dangers of the fierce winds.  In the calm of my centered world may I remain vigilent in my efforts to care for those lost in the hurricane.

Cleveland, Tennessee
October 21, 2010
JDJ