The wind blows wherever it pleases.

John 3:8

 We spent the day in lawn chairs watching my brother, his grandsons, and a “windmill expert” assemble a 100-year-old windmill in our pasture. By the evening, the seemingly random pile of metal transformed into a functioning mechanism for pumping water from a hundred feet below the ground’s surface.

I have enjoyed watching that old spinning windmill and hearing the whirling and clanking of the blades as they turn to harness wind blowing from any direction—North, South, East, or West!

Jesus chose wind for one of His teaching moments:

“The wind blows wherever it pleases.

You hear its sound, but you cannot tell

where it comes from or where it is going.

So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

The mystery of wind going and coming does provide a perfect picture for the mystery of how the Holy Spirit draws someone to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. I have no explanation for why I accepted Jesus as my Savior on that specific day at the age of eight years, except that the Holy Spirit drew me to Himself. I do know my heart burned within, and I wanted to tell somebody that I loved Jesus! I told the pastor, and I told Jesus, and I was born again that day!

I want to celebrate that memory each time the wind tosses my hair or swishes the leaves across my feet!

Father, thank you for sending Your Holy Spirit to swoosh across our hearts and draw us to You. May many sense Your presence and respond to Your offer of love and salvation. In Your Son’s name I pray, amen.

Linda Lesniewski