Stormy Wind

As I sit in front of a bright computer screen, inside a cozy home, the wind howls around this corner of the house and moans in the needles of the fir tree. In the pre-dawn darkness outside my window, the wind roars through the tops of trees like a freight train.

I have never enjoyed a snowstorm so much. For the first time I remember, I could watch the snow fall yesterday and I can listen listen to the wind howl today without worrying about my poor husband trying to drive through drifted roads and deliver mail. He has had the first three days of this week off work for deer season.

This was our fifth season hunting together. I began hunting with him four years ago when he bemoaned his lack of hunting partners. We've had a lot of quality time hunting together, watching the daylight come to the forest and hearing God's creatures skitter and sing in His creation. Yesterday morning, it was beautiful to watch the snow falling in the quiet woods.

On this final morning of the season, the wind is fierce and I have decided that I am finished hunting for this year. I shot a doe the day before yesterday, which then walked within Dave's range and he finished it off. He had harvested one earlier with his bow, from which we canned 50 pints of venison, so we have plenty of meat.

The wind howling around the house reminds me of this biblical imagery:

Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and mist,
stormy wind fulfilling his word!

I love the Psalmist's assumption that the stormy wind is fulfilling God's word! The blowing wind reminds us that God is omnipotent and omnipresent--all powerful and all present. Like the wind blowing snow into cracks and crevices, God's word and will cannot be hindered. Its power sweeps away all obstacles and bends even the most stiff-necked tree.