Wind in the mountains

                             A little food for weekend thought:
     From today's, Daily Light: "How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!  Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.  They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give me them drink from the river of Your pleasures.  For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light." (Ps.36:7-9)
     "Since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him." (Isa.64:4)
     Thank You Lord for the gift of a new, fresh day.  Your glorious mountains reflect their Maker--strong, immovable like our Rock in Whom we take refuge.  Lush, colorful, full of life and beauty, magnificent like our Redeemer and Sustainer and Creator.

    And right now the wind rattles the windows and rushes powerfully through the trees and hills, and I cannot help but think of Your Holy Spirit.  "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)  "When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit..." (Acts 2:1-3)
     Lord, might Your Holy Spirit blow through us, refreshing and reinvigorating those tired and shallow and worn out places in our lives.  Lord, we don't want to just go through the motions, just barely surviving, but not really living in the fullness You desire for us. You didn't create us to just survive another day.  No, You created us to live Your abundant, full Life--real Life, with a capital L--in living color, by Your power and to Your glory.  But we can't do that on our own--it's only by and through Your Holy Spirit. That rushing, powerful Wind!
      We want to drink deeply from the river of Your eternal pleasures.  We want to live in Your Light, not in the pallid, weak shadows of our worldly selfishness and shallow desires.  We want to know what it is to feel Your Holy Spirit blow through us, changing, resurrecting, restoring, reviving.  O Lord, only Your Spirit can resurrect even those dead dreams and moribund hopes and barren relationships in our lives.  And in their place bring Your glorious Life and Light and Love.
     So Lord, do it!  Just as You did it with those disciples thousands of years ago, just as You do it daily in the lives of believers all over the globe, Lord, do it again, do it in our lives!  To God be the glory.