“Voice of The Wind”
Part 3

A flash of vivid color, a whirl of wings in flight and he lands on the tall strand of grass by the pond’s edge. Dark, dark and glossy as, well, as a Raven’s wing! Only this bright one is no “cawing crow”. It is, in fact, one of my all time favorite birds: The Red Winged Black bird. Perched now in one of their most loved places: tall grass along side still water, he makes the afternoon “bright” with his God-given loveliness! I remain still and “drink” in the picture. Dark one where have you been today? Where will you rest when I’m safe in my bed tonight? A moment only and he is gone! Graceful creature of God, I never knew you! Flash! The moment is gone and I’ll see him no more: or seeing him will not recognize him. It is just so that the panorama of life’s flowing colors passes us by. We see but we cannot touch, cannot alter or affect the passing parade. We can never really “know” the creatures that flow through our lives like water through our fingers.
Ann was a beauty! I mean one of those girls that stop your heart when you first see her! Without trying she turned every head in every room she ever entered. She had hazel eyes that seem to see things beyond normal sight: she always left me thinking she “knew” something I did not. Looking back I believe I always knew things were “different” in her life, different in ways I could not, at the time, fathom. She was a “majorette”, beauty queen and more: she seemed totally unaware of her “status”. It was as if she was a caterpillar who never was aware of how wonderful her butterfly wings really were! All the guys wanted to date her (me too!) but I was just a friend. We never knew anything about her life “after school”. She just appeared, on cue as it were, and then was gone, leaving a deep desire to know more about her. I did learn that her home life was “bad”, divorced parents, drinking, poverty and just possibility emotional abuse beyond our understanding. She was always involved with guys who were older and beyond the scope of our social circle. Fascinating creature, who are you after all? High School days passed, as they always do, swiftly! I moved on to college and lost touch with Ann. She did not attend school with those of us who went to our “home town school” UNA (then Florence State), no one knew where she was or what was going on with her. Sad to say, I “saw it in the paper”: Ann was found dead of an apparently suicidal drug overdose, dead at 19! Graceful creature of God, I never really knew you!
Touch the ones that pass you everyday with the love that Christ shares so freely with us! Touch them before they “fly” away and are lost in the never ending storms of life that devour the ugly and the beautiful! Love them in the moment given tomorrow comes far too soon!

Reaching out in the love of Christ,
Chuck