I live by
the sea and I often watch the gulls hover in the wind. They know the art of
working with the wind. They let the wind carry them. That is why they are able
to remain in the air for so many hours and yet not grow tired.
The gulls
teach me how to be carried by the wind of the Spirit, the Breath of God.
It is hard to
walk against a strong wind. Yet with what ease we move when the wind is in our
favour. So when I am ‘moving in the Spirit’ how much ‘lighter’ does my daily Christian
living become. But what heavy work I make of my life when I am out of tune with
the movement of grace!
One of the
Fathers of the Church put it clearly: ‘The breath of the Spirit blows to fill
the sails of our faith and our praise.’
An even
earlier source, the second century Odes
of Solomon uses another image.
‘As the
wind passes through the lyre
And the strings
speak,
In the same
way through my inward being
Sounds the Spirit
of the Lord, and I speak in his love.’
The wonder is that the Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation is available now to me, to you, to breathe fresh life in us and to uphold us with power from on high.
Come Holy
Spirit, Come Divine Wind, Come!
