by Joanne Wiklund
When I sit in my safe place to wait out a tornado warning, my mind wanders. I let it. Takes me back to our old two story house and the huge tree that stood in the side yard. Higher than the house and almost as rickety. My siblings and I slept upstairs in two small bedrooms close to a very steep staircase. My mom was afraid of storms and we often sat in the kitchen and waited till it was over.
Mom had broken her shoulder in a car accident. In great pain she moved with care and effort. She could get down in bed okay, but rising from a prone position was difficult and time consuming. She rose by inches, stood only with help to steady her. A huge storm came. I was awake and terrified. I knew that old tree was rotten from about six foot up to the top. Dad had checked about taking it down but the cost was prohibitive.
When I heard the lightning hit the tree, I sat bolt upright in bed. When I heard the tree split, creaking as it fell, I knew I was dead. No way out. I couldn’t move. When the tree’s two pieces hit the ground next to the house, some branches broke my parent’s bedroom window. I heard glass shatter. The house shook, every window rattled. When I caught my breath, I realized Mom was standing in the light from the night light. In the door way between the two bedrooms, with one hand on one side of the door frame and her shoulder in the cast resting on the other side, she looked to be six feet tall. Her boys safe in one room and her girls in the other. She was breathing heavily when she sat on the edge of the double bed my sister and I slept in. She kept saying, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
The next night at the supper table, we talked about her trip upstairs, getting out of bed and up those stairs from the time the lightning hit the tree and the tree hit the ground. I remember Dad asking her, “What did you think you were going to do, Vi? Hold up the roof?” She just laughed, shook her head and didn’t answer him. Fast forward to these days when storm warnings come. I’m not scared. I’m prudent, I heed warnings. I’m better than I used to be about it. l thank my God for His love and care and know He’s with me, no matter what.
Proverbs 25 “Thy father and mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.”
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.”
Love that last statement starting with, “Fast forward to these days when storm warnings come;”.
Immediately made me realize this is how I should be regarding the storm warnings of life.
Be prudent.
Heed warnings.
Be better than you used to be.
And thank God for his love and care.
Know that He is with you, no matter what.
Such good advice. The last one is one I really hold onto these days. Thanks, j,
Loved this!
Thanks for the note. I appreciate hearing from you. j.