Friends
In Isaiah 40:30-31 we read this: Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
It is a reminder to me, this verse, that I have not become quick-tempered, fractious and incautious with my words overnight; instead, a year without time off has caught up with me. We all need a rest, and I am greatly looking forward to my leave in two weeks’ time.
Outside my window sometimes, I see red kites flying, high up above. They are a success story of returning wildlife to places where it has died out. And they remind me of this verse. I grew up on the West Coast of Scotland, on the Isle of Arran. I have seen the eagles soar, and I know that they may have to work hard to fly up to find the wind currents, when they find the right place they no longer need to flap, or make any effort really, instead they spread their wings and the wind takes them as they rest on it, swooping and wheeling and soaring in apparent effortlessness.
I dream sometimes of flying, but more often, when I realise I am flying, I fall. My brain, becoming aware of the dream as an impossibility, jerks me awake in that sudden jolt of adrenaline that means sleep will be some little time coming again.
And yet…
The Holy Spirit is likened to wind. We don’t know where it comes from or where it is going to, but we hear it, we feel it, we see the results of it passing. For me this verse from Isaiah and these red kites flying remind me, yes of the importance of holiday rest, but also of the importance of just resting in the Spirit sometimes, of letting go and letting God take us where he will, high or low, to feel the presence of the Spirit.
Even eagles cannot soar for ever. Nests must be built, food must be caught, chicks must be hatched, guarded and taught. The basic stuff of life is the same for all living things. But sometime this summer, let us take ourselves somewhere quiet and make a date with the wind of God, that we too may soar like eagles, resting in his presence, and born up by his Spirit.
God bless, Vicci