The wind chimes

There was a gentle breeze that rustled the trees as I was waking up.

And then I heard - ever so gently - a ringing sound.

The wind chimes.

Rich and I had purchased them on a family trip to Myrtle Beach the summer between our wedding and his death.

It had taken him a while to choose just the right set and then it took him "forever" to hang them on the patio of our home.

He was the king of methodical.  I know there's no such honor.  Maybe another way to describe him is that he was an engineer.  If you have an engineer in your life you get it.  If not.  Then trust me.  They take great pains to ensure that everything is right - at least in their eyes.

That was in 1998.

After he died I bought the house I live in.  I was still getting settled on this day 15 years ago.

The wind chimes came with me to my new home.  I was not as careful with the hanging as Rich would have been.  They got wet.  One day I heard them crashing ...  I'm not sure when this happened...but my sweet daddy retrieved and repaired them.  He didn't tell me.

So I was most surprised to hear them ringing.

Especially since it was November 27, 1999.  It would have been Rich's 50th birthday.

All these years later, many mornings I hear them softly tinkling as the wind blows.  I always think of Rich and also of my daddy.

And those wind chimes are a reminder to me that sometimes what seems to be destroyed can be repaired ... maybe a friendship, maybe a life.


None of us are immune.  Disappointment, disillusion, and even death can break us - but God can make something as refreshing as the sweet sound of wind chimes ringing in the early morning.

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted - 

and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
Psalm 34.18