Chapter 23
Good Monday Morning to this week 23 of 2022
The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3.8
Ellicott’s comments; the new spiritual birth, like the physical, cannot be explained. We can observe the phenomena yet we cannot trace the principle of life. He breatheth where He willeth, in the wide world , free as the wind of heaven, bound by no limits of country or of race. The voice is heard speaking to the person himself, and through him to others; there is the evidence of the new birth in the new life. We know not when He comes, or where He goes. We cannot fix the day or hour of the new birth.
The more we see into things, behind things, the more we see divine intent in all things.
A beautiful metaphor out of nature;
When did you last blow at a dandelion to see the seeds fly? With their golden flowers in the early spring, dandelions represent the return of life, the rebirth of growth and green after a harsh winter, and a display of abundant strength and power
Dandelions grow so successfully because those puffballs disperse their seeds over long distances in a stiff breeze. Some dandelions don’t need to wait for the wind, though. As dandelions turn to seed, children everywhere rush to pick them, so that they can close their eyes, make a wish, and blow the seeds into the air.
Recently a little article in a paper caught my attention concerning the flight of the seeds.
The dandelion seed holds the record as the farthest travelling passive flying structure that we know of in the plant world, flying up to 100 kilometres. Now, researchers have discovered the secret to the flight of the dandelion. Dandelion seeds fly using a method that researchers thought couldn’t work in the real world, according to a study published. Dandelion seeds bear filaments that radiate out from a central stalk like the spokes on a bicycle wheel, a feature that seems to be the key to their flight. Researchers were curious about how these bristly seeds stayed in the air because they looked so different from the wing-like seeds of other plants, such as maples. Those structures act like the wings of a bird or aeroplane, generating pressure differences above and below the wing to fly. To find the answer, the seeds were put in a vertical wind tunnel and used a laser to illuminate particles that helped to visualize the airflow around the seed. That’s when they saw the vortex (a whirling mass of air, like a whirlwind) floating above the seeds. The amount of open space between the seed’s spokes seems to be the key to the stability and flight of these detached vortices, the says study.
Being born of the Spirit could be like this. There is intent for the seed to fly, it was assumed with the dandelions it was just the gush of wind that would make them fly. But the results showed more, the show that such long distances of flight were not only with one gush.
The Spirits approach, maybe starting with a gush yes, or a tossing wind, but the secret to the long flight, the process of carrying the seeds so far, cannot be seen at first only later in the results. The amount of open space is the key to vortex, the vortex is the key to the long flight!
If we use this metaphor for the moving of Spirit;
The breath of God, the intent of God and the purpose of God have been laid within our structure, but the opportunity to fly, to a fly long and far, to a place where we can be renewed and planted afresh – this s a process of the Spirit needing a lot of space accompanied by a gentle and steady whirlwind!
Wishing a good flight with much open space this week!
Philemon