The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

Impossible

Impossible. Impossible to predict. Impossible to control, altogether free, appearing where it will, this surge of love wells within, flooding me whole, rendering anything other than love impossible.

Love blows, Love flows, today through a mundane moment of memory: A young woman, 15 minutes out of cosmetology school, awkward and unsure, attempted to cut my hair as I sat in the chair, increasingly anxious over her ever-deeper snips, wondering what I would see in the mirror when she was done.

The cut lasted … a long time.

Two months later, the memory of her unleashes a flood of love for an anxious human heart trying to make her way, find her place, gather her confidence, the stumbling of a spring colt trying to find its feet in a wide pasture. Such beauty, and one way or another, we’ve all been there, little knowing how beautiful our fledging efforts are in the heart of God.

But why? Why do such unpredictable moments open the soul’s inner doors releasing a rush of love beyond any you sought or intended?

Or today? Why does a great hawk—riding the currents above Greene Valley, hundreds of feet above the East Branch of the DuPage, gliding, circling, searching—awaken a wordless wave of love and gratitude flowing free from a place within I don’t control?

What is this Love that is so truly in me, closer than my breath, yet so far beyond and greater than anything I can create or command? Who is this Love whose smile surrounds me as the doors of my heart are swept open, and for one blessed moment that Love and me are one, not two—and I know that it is for this that we are each created?

The Spirit blows where it wills, Jesus says. You never know when it will blow through your day or how it might surprise you, to say nothing of the myriad ways it has shaped your life without you knowing a thing about it.  

On our best, most blessed days, we are awake just enough to welcome Love’s breezes blowing through our lives. When you do, don’t do anything. Just stand there, wherever you are, and feel it. Say a quiet thank you; then let Love do whatever it wants with that heart of yours.

David L. Miller