Epiphany From Windmills

Jesus compared the Holy Spirit to the wind:  “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 who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

There is plenty of wind in Texas and it has been there all along.  Now, giant windmills like the ones I photographed during vacation, strategically placed across the plains convert wind power into electricity.  There is an epiphany in those windmills.

The Holy Spirit, like the wind, has been at work from the dawn of time.  When we intentionally make ourselves receptive to the movement of the Spirit, our lives are transformed and we become instruments that convert the Spirit’s energy into physical manifestations such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  St. Paul lists those nine manifestations as “fruit of the Spirit” in his letter to the Galatians (5:22-23).

Tony Jones, national coordinator of Emergent Village, writes, “Indeed, the same Spirit who invested Jesus with his power is the Spirit who descended on the apostles on Pentecost and is now working in the world…The human task is to cooperate with God in what God is already doing” (The New Christians, p.202).

As those giant windmills are turned by the Texas winds, may our lives be turned by the wind of the Holy Spirit who is already at work in the world.  God alone knows the good that will result.