Snow has blown in. Quite literally. The wind is nasty today. Blustery is one traditional adjective many a writer has used, as I recall.

When Jesus started his teaching work, He met with a religious leader in private and explained some things about His kingdom to that intrigued gentleman. Among the thoughts shared in that session was a comparison of God’s Spirit to the wind. We can’t see it with our eyes and we don’t know exactly when and where and how it will blow (yes, even those of us with advanced radar technology!). But we can see how it affects the things around us, and we can experience how it affects us by how it makes us feel.

Today, I feel cold. I’m snug and warm inside with working power (thank God), central heat (thank God), and a big pot of soup (thank God). But I still feel cold. The sound of its blowing reminds me of its raw power and how cutting it would feel if I were standing outside in it right now.

When I’ve read that story in the past, I’ve often visualized a warm and soft summer breeze gently drawing out the long drooping branches of a willow tree. But in every season, and at every turn, the wind is different.

Sometimes it is soft as a whisper, other times it roars through. Sometimes the effect is refreshingly cool on a warm day or delightfully warm on a cool day. Other times, though, the stinging heat or brutal cold carried on its crest is miserably uncomfortable. Or even (seems to be) a threat.

I think it is easy, in our minds, to limit God the Father or forget about certain aspects of His being we’d rather not dwell on. I think it’s easy, in our minds, to limit God the Son or ignore aspects of His teaching we find confusing, confounding, and unacceptable. I think it’s easy, in our minds, to limit God the Spirit or miss seeing how that Spirit is present in every season and moment of our lives simply because it is not showing up in whatever way we always thought it would.

And those thoughts humble me.

I’m humbled by my own limited vision and by the vastness of the mystery.

Please join me in the coming weeks while I focus each Sunday on a different part of Advent as it relates specifically to the mystery of the Holy Spirit.