Have you ever watched a pinwheel? At just the slightest breeze it begins spinning, and when a stronger gust hits, you can no longer see the individual parts, it is now a beautiful ever-changing kaleidoscope.
To be honest, I’m a little jealous of pinwheels.
With seemingly no effort or hesitation, they respond to the movement of the wind and spin accordingly. Maybe it’s a few rotations to the left, or maybe it’s a continual spin to the right…barely pausing to catch a breath. Regardless of how they move, they are only moving because of the wind.
They are a physical representation of the wind.
In a sense, aren’t we as believers called to be like pinwheels?
The wind is the Lord’s direction over our lives, but unlike pinwheels, we have a choice how we will respond. That’s the beauty of our Heavenly Father giving us free will. While He longs for us to spin effortlessly to His wind in our life, He isn’t going to force us.
Now there are consequences for saying no. Imagine how a pinwheel would look if a big gust of wind came and it held itself still. It tensed up and with all it’s might it fought against the force of the wind. We aren’t going to receive the growth or blessings the Lord wants to give us if we say no. We aren’t going to learn from a situation that may one day be an encouragement to share with another if we say no. When we say no, we are telling Him that we know better than the Creator and that even though He has planned all of our days, our own plans are better.
Why do you think we do it? Why do we often fight God’s leading in our lives? Why do we resist His gentle breezes?
Do we think we know better? Do we think we won’t be able to spin that long or that we deserve a bigger gust of wind to really show off our colors?
There are a few verses in Isaiah that always serve as a reminder to me of God’s great sovereignty,
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” -Isaiah 55:8-9
The Lord longs for us to trust Him. He has wonderful plans, great plans, plans that will impact eternity for each one of us…we have only to trust. We have only to let go of our fears and pride and follow Him.
As we spend time in God’s word, in prayer, and with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we will be able to recognize the wind of God’s leading hitting our pinwheels more and more. You may feel inadequate or uncomfortable, but that’s exactly how God wants us! The pinwheel can’t do anything on it’s own, but when a breeze hits it, it comes to life! We can trust in the Creator of the world. We can lean into Him and trust that He is holding us close, and always providing for our needs.
So trust the Lord when you feel Him guide you to have that conversation, to encourage that person, to take that position, to surrender that relationship, to support that ministry, to rest…however He is leading you, trust Him and experience the amazing plans He has for you.
My prayer is that as we grow to know and love Jesus more and more, it will be evident in how quickly we surrender and trust Him with the direction He is leading us. I pray that we won’t resist or wish for something more, but rather take each breeze or gust as a blessing and opportunity. Like a pinwheel, I pray that we will be confident staying still or spinning on and on, as long as we are responding to the Lord’s sweet leading in our lives.