I have know only a few Ians in my long life. Interestingly, most of them have been quiet, dignified men. In the past 5 days I came to know Ian the Hurricane. He  huffed and puffed. He blew ships to shore and houses to sea. He drowned the unwary and flooded the low-lying. He was very frightening to those who saw him coming. As we sat on our lanai watching the St. Johns River, we were surrounded by the roar of the wind and the tinkle of my chimes dancing like crazy.

They come alive in the wind, and truth to tell, so do I. I love the rustle of the gentle breeze but I am quickened in the energy of high wind. It always reminds me that I am God's  woman, and that  what frightens some, is life to those walk in the Spirit!

A steady river of waterweed islands floated by for 2or 3 days as the rising river scrubbed the side canals and tributaries clean of what had clogged them for such a long time.

It's no wonder scripture tells us that if we will only open our hearts and eyes, creation itself reveals God. Such profound lessons, such reminders to look beyond the pain of the obvious to the promise implicit in the scrubbing!