To autumn aficionados, it’s that first intake of a certain crispness in the air, the paler sky, the upcoming majesty of fall leaves that speaks of it. To winter enthusiasts, it’s the dark blue/gray of the sky, that heavy stillness promising snow that quietly but excitedly rumors it. To lovers of spring, it’s the many subtle nuances, like tiny buds on bushes, the soft greening in the tree canopy, the first sighting of a robin, a crocus leaf poking up defiantly through the snow that winks, conspiratorially, the good news. To summer revelers, it’s that initial, sudden, and oh so welcome, temperature spike, that announces it on wafting humidity. What is this thing that all are receiving as a message? With the less-favored season (our grumble season) now spent, and the preferred season (our Be Happy! season) just around the corner, it’s this: Change is in the air! I think it noteworthy that for all of us, that least-favorite season lasts far too long, is too unbearable, too boring, too inconvenient, while that highly prized, primo season is woefully brief, with always too few opportunities to enjoy it to its max, always eclipsed long before the host of celebrations has been squeezed in. And to think we cycle through this quartet each year, with the same anticipation of joys & sorrows, happiness & grumpiness.
Maybe it’s this seasonal repetitiveness that numbs our spirits to the thrilling onset of other things new. Or maybe it’s that other changes occur on no discernible schedule, with no regularity, sometimes arriving disruptively out of the blue (those are truly the times which trouble a man’s soul, exposing a felt ‘need’ to be in control). But, if we acknowledge Jesus’ supreme authority, the always, total perfection of his timing, his loving, divine prerogative (think the Potter and the clay – Jer. 18:1-12), His being the Master Designer of the Eternal Universe, we may need to rethink our position in the pecking order of who gets to decide what, and when (far be it from me to suggest that this is an easy step to take, or one that is settled neatly, or in a timely manner). But there is this statement by Jesus to Nicodemus, in John 3, where he qualifies our lives, that is, the life of one born of the Spirit: “The wind blows all around us as if it has a will of its own; we feel and hear it, but we do not understand where it has come from or where it will end up. Life in the Spirit is as if it were the wind of God.” VOICE. All that to say this: Change is in the air, y’all. Come, Holy Spirit! PD
