A Word About Winding

Every spring, and again late in the fall, we have a ‘change of seasons’ ritual at our house, because the time changes. Spring forward. Fall back. And more than a dozen clocks in our home all have to be changed to the correct time. Most of those clocks are battery driven now, so changing to the correct time also includes changing all the batteries. But we do have a couple of clocks that have to be wound on a regular basis, or they totally run down. Those two clocks have helped me appreciate the importance of winding.

It’s an interesting kingdom word, too, I think.

Winding implies or at least admits limits. (I’d be foolish not to acknowledge that my physical strength is winding down.) Some of the ‘seasons’ in our lives wind down, too. Careers usually have an ending, and a ‘winding down’ (or is it a winding up?) There is a quiet honesty in that phrase. It admits limits. There is a dignity to endings I think, when they are received with gratitude, not avoided like the plague.

And who hasn’t noticed the winding nature of life? Who hasn’t acknowledged that life resembles a winding path? Not ambling along, for sure. And not inefficient, either. Just unseen. A road that refuses straight lines often feels like a delay, or even a mistake. But winding paths do something straight roads cannot. They reveal what is around the bend only when we get there. Winding paths require trust, not just direction. If we could see too far ahead, we might refuse the journey altogether. “But those who hope in the Lord,” says Isaiah 40:31, “will renew their strength… they will run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint.”

Winding up doesn’t always mean slowing down or stopping, though. I’m a baseball fan, and I marvel that today’s major league pitchers can throw a fast ball more than 100 miles an hour. When a pitcher is winding up, he’s not slowing down. He is gathering stored energy in that backward motion. It looks like unnecessary motion and delay, but it is preparation for release. Not much forward motion, but something is tightening, focusing, preparing.

I’m convinced that life winds. You might say, life is a winding proposition. In the spring of our lives, we feel life is winding its way forward, with twists and turns and adventures we can’t see until they show up. And in the fall of our lives, when it would seem there are more days behind us than before us, we may sense life winding down, perhaps.

A ‘wind up’ then, to this word about winding. A promise, found in The Book: I love the words of Isa. 30:21: “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” Not a map. A voice of encouragement. The re-assuring presence of Jesus as we walk this winding path called life.