Today was a little hint of the fall to come, beautiful azure blue sky filled with bright white cumulous clouds, an autumn’s breeze wafting across the porch, making the wind chimes sing pleasantly. The wind ran swiftly across the porch ruffling the fern branches and Kit Kat’s fur as she slept on the bannister, softly kissing my cheeks as it hurried through the porch to rustle the oak’s leaves.

I found this quote from Nicholas Sparks on an old envelope yesterday. “There are winds of destiny that blow when we least expect them. Sometimes they gust with the fury of a hurricane, sometimes they barely fan one’s cheek. But the winds cannot be denied, bringing as they often do a future that is impossible to ignore.” What a great way to describe the journeys of our lives.

I love this Native American quote about wind. “Listen to the wind — it talks. Listen to the silence — it speaks. Listen to your heart — it knows.” I listened to the wind today talking of the seasons changing. In my listening I heard the wind’s whispers of brushing leaves and brown acorns off the old oak trees, murmurs of round orange pumpkins, yellow and purple mums blooming on porch steps, and laughter about rattling the old sunflower blooms making them drop their black seeds.

I love to listen to the silence, specially when I’m perched in the porch swing on a wondrous morning when the world is silent and modern life hasn’t started tuning up its instruments and warming up for a loud fast paced symphony. I think we hear God in the silence of the day as the wind silently sighs and rests from her work. God says in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” In stillness we can hear God’s gentle whispers of love and grace. We not only listen to God in the silence throughout the day but we speak to God in these moments. Silence is an opportunity for prayer. I’m always thankful in the day’s silence and count my blessings as I look out on the world from my front porch perch.

We listen to our hearts, too. The heart is our spiritual anchor. When our hearts are silent we are listening to the unspoken words of God. When we pray to God he listens to our words. We talk to the Lord through our prayers and we need to listen as God answers our requests, opening our hearts to God’s words and his will. When our hearts are full of God’s grace and faithfulness we are guided in the right direction by our Christian faith. It’s a simple way of living, listen to your heart, anchored in God’s faithfulness, and follow the path it chooses. God never steers us in the wrong direction.

“May the wind always be at your back and the sun upon your face, and the winds of destiny carry you aloft to dance with the stars.” — George Jung