The air was hot and heavy. The temperature had been over one hundred for almost a week now and I was beginning to wish for some rain and some cool fall temperatures. I had parked on the side of the road and waited for the guy with the bull dozer to show up. We were putting in a new dirt tank and I was supposed to show him where to go.
Off in the distance I could see dirt in the air. Maybe he was coming at last. However, as I watched a dirt devil formed and immediately followed some thermal current and dust rose high into the air. It could be seen for miles.
A dust devil is a strong, well-formed, and relatively long-lived whirlwind, ranging from small to large. Dust devils are usually harmless, but rare ones can grow large enough to threaten both people and property. Dust devils form as a swirling updraft under sunny conditions during fair weather, rarely coming close to the intensity of a tornado. They rise high into the West Texas sky and travel for miles ripping up and stirring up dirt and debris on the ground. They create havoc on the ground and for no apparent reason–just to be disruptive I suppose.
Sometimes things in our lives create havoc for no apparent reason. We get caught up in the whirlwind, go nowhere and fall apart drained and scattered and for what? At least a West Texas whirlwind moves along the ground going somewhere until it dissipates. The whirl winds in our lives don’t seem to be moving much but are enough to keep us in a stew and strung out over things happening.
The Navajo refer to dust devils as chiindii or spirits of dead Navajos. The flat desert terrain in West Texas provides the perfect ingredients where dust devils are seen regularly. Soldiers in Iraq have reported home to family about the dirt devils common in Iraq. It isn’t as unusual a thing as you might imagine.
The question is what do we do during our whirl wind episodes? How do we stay focused and on track when things seem to be swirling out of control around us?
Jesus tells us, “In this world you will have trouble but take heart I have overcome the world” (John 16: 33). He also tells us to come to him. Things may be spiraling out of control but we have comfort in our Lord and Savior.
I had been agonizing over a decision that was going to change my life in so many ways. Part of me wanted to stay in my little comfort zone. Yet the other part of me felt that I needed to change to order to grow in new ways. It was driving me crazy. I was just going in circles and I felt like I was smack dab in the middle of a West Texas Dust Devil.
Maybe they are called dust devils for a reason. The devil was certainly toying with my mind to the point I couldn’t rationalize or logically think about anything with any thread of common sense. I was riding the fence, so to speak, and I guess the little girl in me wanted someone to say, “Now, Melinda this is what we are going to do.” There was no one telling me how to react, what decision to make or the angles to look at. It was one of those things where I had to make the decision and no one else could do it for me.
I was so lost in my thoughts I jumped when the big truck hauling the bull dozer pulled up beside me. “Heck of a dust devil over there ain’t it,” the driver drawled. “Them things always look worse than they really are.”
Mmm! Isn’t it funny how God communicates with us. Things always look worse than they really are. Our mind toys with us. Whatever controls the mind controls the person. Doesn’t the devil have a hey day with things like that!!
God wants to bless us. I don’t know why I won’t let him and he does it anyway. Been living in a whirlwind lately? Things always look worse than they really are!
© Melinda Clements
