January Wind

A New Years Note to Sailor Bob January 2005

Today Margaret and I sailed in a light breeze, sunshine and 65 degrees on the Chesapeake Bay. I thought of all of us when I read the following from a book by John Ortberg, “The Life You’ve Always Wanted” ( catchy title eh?)


Signs of Wise Spiritual Training

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

“We can hoist the sails and steer the rudder, but we are utterly dependent on the wind. The wind does the work. If the wind doesn’t blow –and sometimes it doesn’t- we sit in the water no matter how frantic we act.

Our task is to do whatever enables us to catch the wind.

Spiritual transformation is that way. We may be aggressively pursuing it, but we cannot turn it on and off. We can open ourselves to transformation through certain practices, but we cannot engineer it. We can take no credit for it.

Spiritual growth requires discernment. We must learn to respond to the fresh wind of the Spirit. Wise sailors know their main task is being able to “read” the wind – to practice discernment.

Our task is to do whatever enables us to catch the wind.

Gerald