Last night there were 21 tornadoes reported in Oklahoma. Mother Nature is very much like a woman – gentle, beautiful, life-giving. But get the wind going, get the temperature up and look out! Nothing so devastating as a woman with a storm inside her heart!
Storms are fascinating to watch; the colors of the trees, grass, flowers and of course the sky, are just amazing. Every hue seems to be enhanced to a brilliance that literally dazzles the eye. Yet there is also such tragedy along with the beauty, last night several people lost their lives. Years ago my niece lived in an upstairs apartment above a restaurant. While she was away one day, a tornado came through town and hit her home. The next morning, we tried to get to her place hoping to find something to salvage.
The National Guard had been called out (seven people had died in the tornado and power lines were down everywhere), it took us an hour to travel half a mile. When we got to her home, there was nothing familiar about it. Just a hill of rubble, with recognizable bits of personal belongings strewn about the ground, trees and fence.
It was mind-boggling to think that wind could have that much power! On the very top of the ‘hill of rubble’, balanced precariously, was her old console television.
It took days for my niece to retrieve what she could. The TV was brought down and left to dry out, and eventually it was dry enough to plug in. Imagine her surprise when it worked!
All her possessions had been sucked up into the sky, twisted around, and dumped unceremoniously back down upon the ground, yet somehow, that fragile picture tube had survived. It had landed on the top, only to keep going.
It makes me think about women, and how we have the power to be like a tornado when we are pushed. Yet like that old television, we can be spun in many directions, beaten down and thrown around, only to survive.
We are fragile on the inside, just like the picture tube, but we are stronger than we recognize. Today, please take a moment to think about those who perished last night – we are safe, and we are fortunate. Jude