MARCH, SPRING, AND DUCK!
By Mary Hunt Webb
Posted Sunday, March 27, 2011
Did you ever notice how the words associated with this time of year are action words?
‘March’ is the name of the month we are leaving, but the word ‘march’ also means to move in a determined, purposeful manner. Rain and winds seem to march purposefully across some states although we would greet rain thankfully if it would only come to the parched southwest where we have been in a drought for more than a decade.
A severe thunderstorm that developed late in the afternoon of April 30, 2003, near Wichita, Kansas. [Photographer: Morris Webb]
Although ‘spring’ is the name of the season that we are entering in the Northern Hemisphere, ‘spring’ also means to bounce or pop up, sometimes unexpectedly, like a jack-in-the-box.
When I was a child, I remember the schools used to practice tornado drills. These were similar to the old duck-and-cover routine where they led us into interior hallways or the basement, if the school had one, where we tucked our heels under our rears, touched our noses to our knees, and clasped our fingers behind our necks. This was to protect our eyes and heads. Since we lived in ‘Tornado Alley’ - that strip of states in the middle of the United States - our administrators were more concerned about a tornado than about a nuclear attack. Those drills could have scared me.
However, my mother used to get spurts of energy during storms. It’s difficult to say if she connected to the electrical energy in the storm or if it was her way of working off a tendency to worry. She either baked or stitched up a new garment for one of us. Although we liked the baked goods that she stirred up, we preferred the clothing because it lasted longer.
Mother surprised me one stormy evening when she pulled a pattern for me from her pattern collection. My excitement grew as I watched her unfold and iron a length of fabric with little animals on it.
“Is that for me?” I asked excitedly.
All she said was, “Wait and see.”
She was still sewing when I climbed into bed that night.
The first thing I saw when I woke up the next morning was my new dress hanging on a hanger. It was crisply ironed and ready for me to wear to school that day.
I remember boasting to my friends, “Mother made this for me last night!”
This photo shows me wearing one of the dresses that Mother made for me. [Photographer: C.B. Hunt]
After that, I prayed for more thunderstorms so that I could have more new clothes! Mother had removed my fear of wild weather with that dress.
When I told that story to a friend, she said, “And you married a meteorologist!”
Yes, Mother unknowingly prepared me to be the wife of a meteorologist. That’s because I would always be at home during severe weather while my husband was at the office working the forecast shift. Right after we married, I stayed in our apartment and studied during tornado warnings because I was still in college. Our neighbors thought I was crazy not to be in the storm shelter.
After our son was born, I either got down on the floor to help him build with blocks during storms or I baked cookies for him, as my mother had done. During a tornado warning one time, we went into the bathroom, grabbed heavy towels for our heads, sat in the bathtub, and pretended to hide from each other under the towels. I never transferred fear to him. To this day, he is not frightened by storms.
Isaiah 54:13 assures us that, “13) All your children shall be taught by the LORD,
And great shall be the peace of your children.” (NKJV)
As you look at your own life, you may see ways that God has prepared you for events long before they happened. Similarly, you may be experiencing circumstances at present that you would rather not go through. However, the Lord knows what is ahead. He will bring you through the storm despite whether you feel fearful or confident. Why waste energy being fearful? Trust Him. He knows what you need.
2 Thessalonians 3:16 (NKJV) “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
A morning rainbow near Twizel, New Zealand. [Photographer: Morris Webb]
