I grew up in Western North Carolina before the days of global warming.  By this time in September there were signs of fall everywhere!  The leaves were changing colors. The cool breezes were beginning to blow.  Our fall clothes were out of storage and hanging in our closets.  We went to Friday night high school football games with hats and gloves and coats, and if you were lucky a mug of Russian tea in hand to sip on and help provide warmth!

            I loved every ounce of change that we experienced!  Although summer had been fun and carefree I looked forward to all that fall encompassed—most especially the cool breezes.  They felt invigorating.  They created in me an energy that I did not feel all summer long in the midst of muggy heat.

            The Christian faith has much to say about the Holy Spirit within our lives.  It often uses imagery of wind or of breezes blowing to convey that activity.

            I love the imagery, and I love it when the people of God do not shy away from but rather welcome the movement of the spirit in our lives.  The spirit leads and guides and directs.  It speaks to us the still small messages that God most wants to convey.  It takes us down paths of service we would never have designed or perhaps even imagined for ourselves; yet, those paths are the ones that are the most fulfilling, that help us to grow to greater depths of faith, and that help us to be blessings to others.

            As the gentle breezes of fall begin to blow, I hope you will welcome them, enjoy the refreshment from summer’s heat.  I also hope that you will think about the wind of the Holy Spirit and that you will welcome it into your life, that you will follow its leading, and celebrate the good things that it brings to your life and to your ministry with others.