May 16th

May 16th

Read: Psalm 135:5-7; Gen. 8:1; Ex. 15:7-11; Jonah 1:4; John 3:8

We never see the wind, yet we believe its existence because we see its effects. We feel its movement on our cheek, in our hair. We hear the noise it creates as it whips through pine trees or around a windowpane. We see clouds hurry along before its breath or dust devils in a sandy area whirl to the sky. It is there. We believe it is.
Why, then, is it so difficult to believe that the Holy Spirit of God exists? That He is truly present in the life of a believer? My life? Your life? We see His activity in the people around us. Often we hear His promptings or feel His wooing. Why is it so hard to make His presence real in our lives?
Maybe it’s like leaving a lawn umbrella up while I’m away from home. I fail to remember that the wind exists and is able suddenly to arrive and destroy that umbrella. Maybe I get my eyes on circumstances and fail to remember that the Holy Spirit is able suddenly to affect them or to affect me in those circumstances.

EVER THEY CIRCLE, EVER THEY BLOW
The winds from the ends of the earth are sprung,
And over the seas their song have they sung.
Their powerful, sweeping, sighing lay
Follows their journey, heralds their way.
Ever they circle, ever they blow
Over the heights to the plains below;
Through cloven valleys their wild gusts they spill,
Working their havoc or dying at will.

They cross the rough oceans where spume is high-flung
And sail over meadows where bright kites are hung.
They carry the eagle upon his foray,
And play in the forests where trees bend and sway.
Ever they circle, ever they blow;
Capricious unruly, they run to and fro,
Shifting wide deserts, driving the mill,
Cooling hot summers deepening chill.

Prayer: Dear Lord, forgive my neglect of Your Holy Spirit, my strivings in my own strength, my failing to yield to You. Help me to realize Your presence.