Wind. It’s the movement of air that you say you see when the trees bend or your hair whips you in the face. But you can’t really see the air moving. You just see its effects.
The weather report says it comes from the northeast or the southwest, but ask someone from there and they’ll say they didn’t send it—it came from somewhere else. No one, actually, can say where the wind starts.
Yet everyone experiences its effects. Which is why the word “wind” is such an appropriate word for the mysterious, mighty God we know as the Holy Spirit.
We can’t see him but we can see his effects. We can’t pinpoint his exact location with GPS technology but we can experience his effects. We can’t harness his boundless energy but we can harvest some of it as our own source of power for energetic witnessing.
Jesus, clueing us more into heaven’s promises than nature’s laws, once explained, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
In other words, heaven’s wind blows.
Human understanding cannot comprehend him. Scientific technology cannot contain him. Yet he miraculously blows his life-giving breath.
Sometimes heaven’s wind blows in the gentle whisper welcoming a little baby into God’s family through baptism, or nourishing your faith through Bible truths you learned as a child that you don’t think you remember but they’re still in your heart.
Sometimes heaven’s wind blows in the swift whisk of an inspiring sermon message, an enlightening Bible reading at home, or when Holy Communion swirls you off your feet.
Sometimes heaven’s wind blows in the rushing whirlwind of a song and its sound waves, groping for open ears and hearts to fill (and fulfill) with Christ-centered music.
Listen for it today. The wind. The movement of air. And let it remind you of the movement, transformation, renewal, freshness, and power of the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER: Holy Spirit, mysterious and mighty God, catch me up in your heavenly work like the wind swirls around me, blowing off my hat, pushing me in its direction, filling the entire space wherever I am. Fill me with Jesus, guide me in all truth, and empower me to holiness that breathes fresh, new air. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: Read Acts 2 this week, as Christians around the world rejoice in the day of Pentecost, celebrated this past Sunday. 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead, he sent the Holy Spirit to fill the house and hearts of his disciples.