Blowing Like The Wind

It's been a wonderful weekend off duty!  This year brought unexpected challenges.  I went into Autumn 2012 a bit jaded and worn out. The year prior I had taken a fantastic Fall Color tour from Florida to New England and was not all that concerned to be sure I saw Fall this year. I'm glad God and Life happen in spite of me!

As I write now, I am sitting in my semi in South Florida ready to begin a new work series. The winds are sultry and tossing the green trees with playful abandon. I treated myself to a couple nights in a hotel on the Atlantic ocean. Enjoying the sun, the warm clear ocean waters, the shifting sands and the chilly nights, I had a lot of time to think, pray, sing, and just relax all the kinks in my mind, body, and spirit.

My Process was illustrated by the ocean's waves.  The rinsing inward, over the sands and curves of the earth seemed to be washing me of the remnants of gloomy dismay or cloudy anxiety that I held on to. The constant return of the seawater to the depths, carried bits of the shore with it, leaving it scrubbed fresh, new, and exciting.  I know poets and artists capture this all the time. I am very grateful I slowed everything about my hectic, frenetic pace to allow God to reassure me He reigns.

There is MUCH to be grateful for in my life! Family is beginning to reunite and to reach out to each other. Finances are moving along. Health is in God's hands. And I am eagerly writing my to-do list for my Israel trip in late November. Upon return, I have new and unexpected job and career opportunities offering themselves to me. I didn't seek them, instead I was "stuck".  I finally gave up demanding to know every itty bitty next move, and BAM!!  I get a phone call that shocks my world!

The winds that blew while I was on the ocean in the nights are the ones I loved the most recently! The day blew out, the chill and stars blew in. No bugs or tourists lingered. Only the fresh smells of healing and ocean and rest.  I like that, leaning into the wind, and picking up my feet, opening my wings and taking flight to Who Knows Where.

Ready to soar!
Jan M. Olsen
~J~