October 4th, 2021
Today’s devotion is compliments of Leigh McElroy (http://www.leighmcleroy.com/).
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I watched them from the car window, stopped at a light--transfixed by the precision and grace with which they navigated the open sky. A single flock of birds--at least a hundred of them--were whirling and reeling through the bright blue yonder like a three-dimensional chorus line of high-flying dancers.
How do they do that, I wondered? How do they react quickly enough to the single bird next to them to keep their perfect pattern in sync, and avoid crashing into one another on their well-timed, hairpin turns?
It turns out they don't. They're not reacting to the next bird at all. They're riding the current of air and sensing its movement, then anticipating the resulting movement needed to mirror it seconds before it arrives. All of them. All at once. In advance. If they didn't--no mid-air ballet. No in-sync contagions. No resulting, breathtaking beauty. Just aerial chaos.
More and more, I want to calibrate my movements to the current of the Spirit. To sense where he's moving, and get there before it's too late. To anticipate the power and beauty of his invisible flow and put myself in a position to be moved by it. And I'm praying that as I do, I will be better in sync with my brothers and sisters who are doing the same...in tandem with the saints in my community of faith who are anticipating that same wind along with me.
Wouldn't it really be something if I--if we--so anticipated and were so moved by the Spirit, that those around us would marvel at the collective, coordinated beauty of the body of Christ and wonder, too: "How do they do that?"
- Leigh McElroy
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. - Romans 8:14, NASB
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I watched them from the car window, stopped at a light--transfixed by the precision and grace with which they navigated the open sky. A single flock of birds--at least a hundred of them--were whirling and reeling through the bright blue yonder like a three-dimensional chorus line of high-flying dancers.
How do they do that, I wondered? How do they react quickly enough to the single bird next to them to keep their perfect pattern in sync, and avoid crashing into one another on their well-timed, hairpin turns?
It turns out they don't. They're not reacting to the next bird at all. They're riding the current of air and sensing its movement, then anticipating the resulting movement needed to mirror it seconds before it arrives. All of them. All at once. In advance. If they didn't--no mid-air ballet. No in-sync contagions. No resulting, breathtaking beauty. Just aerial chaos.
More and more, I want to calibrate my movements to the current of the Spirit. To sense where he's moving, and get there before it's too late. To anticipate the power and beauty of his invisible flow and put myself in a position to be moved by it. And I'm praying that as I do, I will be better in sync with my brothers and sisters who are doing the same...in tandem with the saints in my community of faith who are anticipating that same wind along with me.
Wouldn't it really be something if I--if we--so anticipated and were so moved by the Spirit, that those around us would marvel at the collective, coordinated beauty of the body of Christ and wonder, too: "How do they do that?"
- Leigh McElroy
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. - Romans 8:14, NASB
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