The Wind and the Water

As I walked by the lake early this morning, I felt the wind blowing. The urge came over me to stoop down and place my hand in the water. As I cupped it in the palm of my hand, the strange question popped into my mind: "What is more real, the wind or the water?” I reflected and answered, “They are both real.” “But what is more real?” I wondered. I reached out to grasp the wind, but I could not hold it in my hand. I thought to myself, “I can see the water. I can hold it in my hand, if only for a moment. I can touch and feel it. But I cannot see the wind or hold it in my hand.” Finally, I concluded, “I suppose the water is more real.” Then, as I looked out a ways from where I was standing and could see how the wind was moving over the water, stirring it up. Then my eyes of my heart were opened. I saw that the wind can reach down and touch the water, move the water, change the water, but the water did not change the wind. And though the water seemed more real at first, it is the wind that is the far greater reality.

Then another thought came to me, “What is more real, your circumstances or God?” I reflected and answered, “They are both real.” “But what is more real?” I wondered. I thought to myself, “I can feel my fears, and the consequences of my mistakes and failures cause me great pain. I can hold my doubts and cling to my regrets, and my fear of the future can overwhelm me at time.” Finally, I responded, “Perhaps my circumstances. They are more real, for, at times, I can see them so much more clearly than You.” Then this thought came to me, “What can all you see and feel, what can all you experience, all the joy and pain, all the laughter and tears, ever do to change God? He is Truth. My circumstances, my life, my fears and doubts will never have any power to change God and His love for me. But He has the power at any time to reach down and change them. He is the Ultimate Reality.”

All these eyes can see, all these hands can touch, all this heart can feel can be changed in a moment. But the Lord is the same now and forevermore. He is the Wind that moves but can never be moved by the water.

Written on March 21, 1991