The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. – John 3:8

Maybe age has something to do with it.  There just seem to be so many things that I think I will not fully understand about this world.  Perhaps, you too wonder why things in the nature of the world are just as they are.

I stepped through the doorway and onto the covered patio at the rear of our house.  As usual there was a pretty good breeze blowing.  The sun was shining.  It appeared to be a pretty decent day.  Then a sound caught my attention.  It sounded like sporadic rain was hitting the roof of the patio.  The roof is covered with those translucent panels.  The sound of any rain on those panels seems to be magnified when standing beneath them.  Anyway, I paused to listen and wonder how it could be raining on a sunny day.  Within a couple of moments, I realized that it was not the sound of rain I was hearing.  It was one of clever wonders of springtime nature. 

Across the street from my front door, in my neighbor’s yard, there are two Maple trees.  Every spring, those trees burst forth with an abundance of seeds.  It was those seeds, being blown across my patio cover, mimicking the sound of rain, that caught my attention.  The unique seeds of Maple trees have a design that are made for the springtime winds in the area.  As children, my friends and I loved them.  My father even taught me how to make some fun noises with them.  We called them helicopters.  The seed is on one end and a broad blade constitutes the rest of its body.  Whether caught in the strong March winds, or simply floating on a minimal breeze, the spinning effect is much like the whirling blades of a multitude of helicopters.  Those seeds land on any happenstance place.  Lawns are dotted.  Cars are masked.  Sidewalks are carpeted.  Rains wash many of them into storm sewers.  Many of them are left in places in which they cannot grow, but there they turn into the natural habitat for some other plants to grow.  If all goes well, some of those spinning seeds make their way into just the right place, and a new Maple tree begins its long life.

So, back to the sound coming from the patio cover.  As stated, it wasn’t the sound of rain.  It was that clever wonder of springtime nature.  Through the translucence of the overhead patio cover I could see the shape of those “helicopter” seeds.  I stood for a moment as I wondered at the sound.  Then I pondered at the journey.  How could so many of those seeds make it so far from the trees, rise over the house, to finally land above my head.  Then, even as my mind wandered a brief breeze stirred many of those fluttering seeds, drawing them into flight again.  Amazed, I marveled at the wonder of these precious opportunities of the future.  The question arose, “How can these things come to be?”  As my mind often does, I thought of a song.  It was Bob Dylan’s song “Blowin’ in the Wind”.  The words registered.  “The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind.  The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”  But what does that lead me to understand?

Simply, there is within each seed a nature that is emboldened in the wind.  It was brought to be with purpose and power.  Like the helicopter seed, the wind has design and reason.  As the wind blows, we cannot see it.  Still, we feel it and even see what it does.  Its force is there.  We c sanee the results of it.

There are those who will give some scientific, or meteorological explanation to the wind.  They may have something.  I think I would choose to be like the seeds.  The seeds simply live within the vibrant life it shares with the wind.  It may be that we will complain at the mess, or pause to be amazed at the windy show.  Whatever the case, we cannot avoid the view of the future, and of what is truly seen when it is “blowin’ in the wind.” So, the next time the “helicopters” are flying, look to the design and the future it brings. God knows what He is doing.

Russell L. Dyer – 4/7/2024