Just this: both emerged from a writing warm-up exercise I engaged in, and now I’m stuck wanting to pen a respectable few words about trusting God and doing the next thing, but my mind is entertaining itself with the words “Waponi Woo.”
Whether it simply likes the sound the words make when they roll around, or it is hoping that repetition will reveal inspiration, I don’t know, but here’s what led to all this—which is why, by the way, I do not like writing warm-ups.
I have been dogged by a sense of ennui lately, a condition I described to my husband as a “brain cloud” like the one Joe, in the 1990’s film, Joe Versus the Volcano, supposedly suffered from. Just as Joe was convinced his condition was terminal, I began to believe I would never again write an intelligent thing, utter a wise word, or think a bright thought. My brain cloud was fatal. (But unlike Joe, I wasn’t about to offer myself as a sacrifice to the Waponi Woo volcano god.)
While mulling over the idea of “clouds,” I picked up a copy of the latest Discover magazine and opened to (don’t you love when this happens) an article titled, “20 Things You Didn’t Know About Clouds.” Huh.
One of those things was that a few years ago a paragliding champion, Eva Wisnierska, survived “cloud suck.” She was sucked up 32,000 feet (higher than Mt. Everest) into a cumulonimbus cloud. Although oxygen-deprived, covered in ice, tossed around in thunder, lightning, and hail stones as big as golf balls, incredibly Wisnierska lived to tell about it.
An online article quoted her as saying, “"I don't believe in God. But I do believe in angels. I think they were the ones who brought me back safely.”
At first I was astounded she could say such a thing. Why would you believe in angels but not in God?
Maybe because God demands accountability; angels may bear us safely home but they don’t require commitment, trust, or obedience. They don’t ask us to entrust our lives, our wills, our hearts to them. They let us think we are in control. But God reverses the order and realigns the perspective. He: Creator; I: created.
However, before I got much further with my self-righteous rant about how someone could believe in angels and not in God, the Holy Spirit shone His light inward on the dark cloud on my own horizon that was sucking me in. “And what are you believing in today, Marcia? The frumpy lies that are bouncing off like hailstones? the lightning that’s scaring you? an angel bailout?”
“Or—the One who made the storm, who sustains life when everything in nature screams “Impossible!” who requires you to actively respond to Him by diligently putting your hand to all He gives you to do, and to trust Him with the results.”
***
Ah, I do believe my brain cloud is lifting. Sorry Waponi Woo—no offering today.
"Angel bailout" - great way to express that! And I'm with you on the writing warm-ups. Hate 'em. But sometimes they DO give us a cool idea :)
ReplyDeleteWow. You're right. Believing in God does require something from us...an acknowledgement that we aren't Him. Awesome example Marcia. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI loved this story! The last of it, “Or—the One who made the storm, who sustains life when everything in nature screams “Impossible!” who requires you to actively respond to Him by diligently putting your hand to all He gives you to do, and to trust Him with the results.” is amazing! Wow, so well written Marcia! That should be written on our foreheads so we see act on and remember it everyday!
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