Every Time I Feel the Spirit...

I'm glad to see that the wind has died down in the past few days. The gentle breeze is quite a relief after the gale force winds that we've recently experienced. It almost felt creepy to sit in my living room listening to the wind howl and the windows rattle. The gravel dust blowing across the highway made visibility almost dangerous at times. Pieces of trash that had escaped the sacks set out for pick-up found their way around town, decorating the lawns with all sorts of stuff. I found that it was difficult to keep my car on the road in the forceful gusts, not to mention almost being knocked over a time or two. But worst of all were the inevitable bad hair days that come with winds like that!

We will soon be celebrating the day of Pentecost, the day on which the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. But the Holy Spirit didn't arrive in the form of a gentle breeze. It came suddenly in a violent gale force wind filling the entire house where the disciples were gathered, giving them power to be Jesus' witnesses in Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria.

Pentecost isn't a once a year thing. We can feel the gale force wind of the Holy Spirit every day knowing that it will provide a tailwind driving us to the destination of God's mercy. We can be certain that the Spirit will keep us from being blown over by those earthly things that keep us from walking the path of faithful discipleship. We can be assured the the holy dust that is stirred up by the divine wind won't obscure our vision of the risen Christ. As for the trash called sin that is flying all over the place and landing where it will, the Holy Spirit will give us the strength to pick up what we can as we are sent out to be witnesses just like the disciples. And I don't know about you, but I don't mind a bad hair day once in a while knowing that it is the divine wind that is blowing upon me. As we await this Pentecost day, I invite you to feel the Holy Spirit, the breath of life, as we inhale and exhale God's grace and God's love.