Blowin' in the Wind...

-

 

Two pictures that captured my eyes today morning. A feather floating into the room, drifting along with the wind, going where the wind blows. Today it landed up in our front room, to be swept away by me and taken out with the garbage!

A feather that was part of the body of a bird once, actively participating in the forward momentum and the miles that bird would have flown, today is a drifting in the wind. It has no sense of direction or where it should go, it is propelled by the winds around, till some one picks it up and throws it in the garbage!

The second picture that came to mind was one of ‘driftwood’. I was reading in the Good book “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. ² May be this was that brought the picture of driftwood in my mind.

Driftwood is floating wood that has wound up on the shore due to the actions of the elements. Once part of a big tree, or structure of ship or a building, today is a piece of wood drifting based on the movements of the elements of nature! Some are good looking and beautiful but mostly serves no purpose than to be burnt in fire.

Our generation grew up with Bob Dylan’s song - Blowin’in the Wind. In 1994, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. A season, when world was looking for stability amid fast changing times. The refrain The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind has been described as impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind. 

How many roads must a man walk down, Before you call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail, Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly, Before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind..


It is dangerous to be a loose canon in the constantly shifting sands of these complex ambiguous post pandemic times. How should we live in such times? 

The good book asks this question - “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” I have on my table a violin string,’ wrote Rabindranath Tagore. ‘It is free to move in any direction I like. If I twist one end it responds; it is free. But it is not free to sing. So I take it and fix it into my violin. I bind it and when it is bound, it is free for the first time to sing.’

This season is one for rechecking our foundations, binding ourselves to the age old foundations that gave us stability, and bring beauty and songs out of being bound to the bigger picture of restoring foundations amid shifting sands! At times even digging up tearing down old ones and building  new foundations too! Then only we will remain stable. This is what Jesus reminded us too…

“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. “But if you just use my words and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.” Matthew 7:24-27 MSG;NIV - “These words I speak to you are not - Bible Gateway



  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waiting and Wasting

-
Image
As a young doctor, when I entered a rural mission hospital to work for a year or so, I was convinced that I was wasting my time. I was waiting to get into residency, and working there was not the optimal path to secure a residency of my choice. However, there was an inner compulsion pushing me to give it a try. On the other hand, I was certain that it would be a waste, and I expressed this to the senior doctor who had invited me to work for a year. He gently told me that a year of apparent waste might not be wasted if it helped me gain clarity about my life since I was not particularly clear at that time. I didn't believe him then, but I decided to go through with that one year of seemingly wasted time and life. In life, waiting is often viewed as a period of wasted years. However, a contemplative examination of stories from the Bible teaches us otherwise. Take Abraham, for example. He received a promise to become the father of many nations but spent his whole life wandering from p
Read more

Community our nation needs...

-
Image
It was early 70s. A batch of young boys grew up together over 6 years. A complex group of young boys who soon are together to be young men. People from various religion, life backgrounds, thought processes and desires and plan. Differences aside we grew together agreeing to disagree but agreeably. Moving away from each other in 1976, to pursue their dreams for life. The batch of 76.  47 years down the line, the batch still the remains the batch of 76. We have grown in girth and BMIs. More knowledgeable and probably wise too. Many have made it well in life. Some may not feel that about themselves but have contributed much to the society.  We remain the batch of 76, with many differences between us. Some frantically political, some apolitical, some deeply religious, others agnostic, some retired and enjoying retired like others still busy in their business of life. Some need spirits to keep the machines running, others prefer a spiritless life. Some with BP’s (Literally) others sweet in
Read more

Weary of doing good

-
Image
Can one become weary of doing good? Yes there are many times, personally I have felt weary and wanted to give up. I suppose this is not an uncommon feature for others too. Paul knew this and that is why he wrote to Galatians - “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9NIV Three common reasons why people (including me) feel weary of doing good, are considered here.  One, the drudgery of the mundane and routines. Though we want to feel passionate and engaged actively always, there will be times, when the routines of the day to day work and engagement seems to push us into weariness and wanting a rest from doing good for a period of time. Re-reading the book of Joshua it was interesting to observe that most of his life except for the initial years of war, would have been spend sorting out the allocation of land and settling the petty squabbles around those probably? How did he manage these mundane routines for
Read more