The Power of the Wind

I'm one of those people that dreams of an idyllic paradise where the sun always shines in the day, the rain only falls at night (if at all), and there is no snow, cold, or wind.

Even in the summertime a perfectly sunny day can be ruined for me by a strong wind. It blows in my ears and gives me an earache, sets off my tinnitus, and blows any hair style I thought of having (to use an expression I heard when I was growing up) all to barf. It can really put me in a foul mood... if I let it.


But the wind serves a purpose.  It is the harbinger of weather changes, aids in cross-pollination, spreads seeds, and helps in the water cycle by speeding up evaporation.  It strengthens root systems in trees, makes them more flexible.

It can also give us an inkling of the power of its Creator.  The boulder in the picture to the left has been sliding across the packed sand in the strong desert wind. The wind.  The invisible moves the visible. Who can forget the sight of palm trees whipping and mighty century-old oaks snapping in hurricane after hurricane?  There's no controlling when, in what direction, how hard and how long it will blow.  


I guess that's why God said that His Spirit is like that.  Unpredictable, unseen, yet so evident if you just listen, look, feel.  Oh, He's there, whether we like it or not at times. He's there when things are decidedly uncomfortable.  He's there when we long for a wisp of a breeze to cool us off.  He's there when the storms of life pin us against a wall.  And He decides where He goes, what He does, who He touches, how He works. Unstoppable, powerful, gentle, passionate, ... all those things and much, much more.  After all, He's God.