Week 7: You are the wind's interpreter. What is it saying?

The wind is a curious thing to me. It can represent so many things simultaneously. When the wind is a “breeze” it floats by, barely noticed, and offers a quick refreshing. Then of course there is “gusts” of wind. These demand attention. They are the uncontrollable winds of hurricanes and tornados. Devastating winds.

Wind has the power to provide us with energy, to power our homes! It can bring storms, and also send them away. It allows us the luxuries of travel by land and by sea. Yet, it can also present a dangerous threat to our lives when at its highest force. The wind has both the power to invigorate, and to devastate.

I cannot help but consider that the wind in all its forms and behaviors has a lot to teach us about its (and our) Creator.

Winds bring about seasons of change. Some light and refreshing like a cool summer breeze, and others like a wild wind whipping up an epic storm. Yet, we need both to make our world function properly.

It is sort of like the seasons of life we go through as individuals. There are the gentle breeze seasons that give us energy, refresh us, encourage us. Seasons of restoration.

But there are also stormy seasons. Seasons of struggle, sickness, waiting, etc. Big gusts of wind that seem to keep crashing into us making it hard to even stand up straight.

I personally would love to take up permanent residence in the breezy seasons of life. I am a fan of avoiding conflict, or challenges, preferring to stay comfortable at all costs. But what if the cost is more than I can even imagine?

Comfort is good, and God-given, and needed at times! Yet, seasons of light breezes are stagnant seasons. Not a lot of change, or movement happens. You see, moving anything at all requires force.

Jesus reminded us of this in His time on earth. As He neared the hour in which He would be arrested, beaten, and ultimately murdered on a cross, He had a dinner with His disciples. Embracing a season of calm winds, they broke bread and enjoyed each other’s company. Then Jesus told them about what was to come. The winds were about to roar and scatter the once united group of men. (“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered…” John 16:32 NIV). Then He said, “I have told you these things, so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” John 16:32.

It seems strange that He would tell them they are all going to be torn apart and then suggest that this message was given to them to bring peace. Nothing seems peaceful to me about being told that soon you will loose all your friends who you have built a life with.

Strange as it may seem, I think what Jesus was saying is that we were never promised comfortable, breezy lives. Yet, He knows our hearts desire for comfort. In our striving to escape fear, we do all we can to avoid the storm. We board up our hearts, our lives, our resources, and pray the storm will pass by us unnoticed. In saying this to His disciples I think He was trying to tell them (and us) that the answer is not in avoiding storms. It’s in seeking the one who created the storm. Who can still the storm with His voice. In this world we will have trouble, but we will also have Jesus. What or who then shall we fear?

Knowing that we have Christ on our side as our constant, and that He has already overcome the brokenness of this world we are free to embrace the seasons of change and growth knowing that in and through them God’s Kingdom is advancing! I want to be brave. I want to experience all that God has created me for. All that His kingdom can offer me this side of heaven and beyond! I don’t want to be the same person I am today when I meet my maker face-to-face. I want to embrace the winds of force in my life and watch myself be changed from the inside out. I want to look more like my Maker each and every day.

The wind, in all its forms, is my reminder that this world will never be predictable or controllable, despite all my efforts to make it so. Yet, it will offer me a place to build my faith and live my purpose as I boldly enter and weather the inevitable storms, knowing that My God has already conquered the world.