Open Your Windows and Let in the Wind by Laura Reitzel

So, the cause of many, many hours of frustration and trial, of complaint and absolute confusion, have come to a conclusion. If any of us have ever been there, you know, that place where you cannot see what's in front of you and the oh-so-familiar voice of God, peace, understanding, and comfort seems to have flown from your fingers even though you hung onto it so tightly, all because you looked away for a moment, or so you think. You have clung to the things you recall, and you read the scriptures day after day, feeling that something has formed a canopy of steel above your head which your vain little prayers cannot come through. You feel bereft and alone, and the voices of your struggles and the images of your idols, your selfishness and self-sufficiency, are beating at your doors and screaming for you to come back, come back, come back to them and their rest. It lasts a moment, you know this, but you are so tired of trying to hear Him, and he seems too quiet for your ears, or your ears too deaf to His whisper. You are trying to fight it off, but it is so very hard to hear the Truth.

Psalm 13:
1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall....

This is the cry of your heart. Your thoughts attempt to consume you. The idols of your past throw themselves after your flying feet and you are growing weary. Here was I, just yesterday. I found myself on the floor, watching the sunlight bounce vapidly off the reflective objects on the coffee table, the pattern of the oriental rug was being engraved into my mind, but the only thought occupying the tablet of my heart was this:

"Why God, what are these things that I used to love trying to take me back? The temporal and ugly ways of the world that are so natural to my heart? In it's flesh I cannot see, I cannot seek. What are they?"

And He said to me:

"Smoke. It is all smoke."

The distractions of the world are but smoke. Short lived and thick as they are, they will pass away. As the army burns it's fires in order to sneak into the rival camp, the smoke pouring into the ranks, it is foiled if the wind sweeps the field. The creeping of the cinders under the doors of a house is remedied by the opening of the window in order to let the breeze clear the air. What is the wind but the Holy Spirit rushing through us (Acts 2:1-3)? Our comforter and helper (John 14:16,26) when we cannot see. And when we realize the temporary nature of the smoke in our eyes, we cannot help but run to the windows and throw up the sash. That Spirit inside of you can clear the air, and when the smoke clears, you will see the freedom that was there all along.

...5 But I trust in your unfailing love;my heart rejoices in your
salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,for he has been good to me."

Heed not the smoke, friends. Open your windows, and let in the Wind.

...Laura Reitzel, College Student

http://www.xanga.com/phantasmal13