A Chase After The Wind

A few weeks back a friend asked me to visit a cabin he owned in the U.P. He knew I was tired and needed some revitalization. So, he wanted to be able to get away.

However, getting there, he said, was a little tricky. "You know how to get to the bridge. That's the easy part. But after that there so many unnamed roads. And the scenery and landmarks may have changed. It seems every time I give someone directions (turn right here, go four miles, etc...) they always lose their way."

Bemused, I asked, "How exactly do you expect me to find this place then?"

"Well," he chuckled, "the wind blows and swirls toward the cabin. Follow the wind, and you will get there."

This is not an account of actual events, but is an illustration to help us think about the Holy Spirit. Remember that the word for Spirit, pneuma , also mean breath or wind. So, in Galatians 5, where it says that since live by the Spirit, we should keep in step with the Spirit, it may be helpful to picture keeping in step with the wind.

How would this be helpful?

I guess it reminds me that the Spirit is not still or stagnant. He moves like the wind.

It's easier to tell where wind has been than where it is going. You just look at the things blown over.

So it is with the Spirit, I think. We can tell where he has been. His fruit is there. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-Control. If you find broken Laws, then that is not the fruit of his presence.

I think that such ethereal directions are a challenge for sense of independence and control. Any time someone tries to give me landmarks, I grit my teeth and ask for road names. But it does seem to me to be the Way.