"The Rush of a Violent Wind"

We're under a wind warning today in Southwestern Connecticut. Already, there have been gusts of 40+ MPH. Trees and limbs are falling. There are power outages. Wind is one of nature's most destructive forces.

It's interesting that the word "spirit" is often associated with wind in the New Testament. At Pentecost the disciples experience the coming of the Holy Spirit "like the rush of a violent wind." This is an analogy to describe the power with which the spirit comes.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells Nicodemus, "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (3:8) Since the Greek word for both spirit and wind is pneuma, wind is a double entendre.

If the spirit is like wind, then our challenge is to "catch" it. This means putting ourselves in a place or state of mind where the wind is likely to blow. For me, this place is most often in the beauty of nature. The wind/spirit blows there both literally and metaphorically. Where do you feel the wind/spirit? That's a good clue to where you need to spend some of your time each day.