“We will be OK…as long as the wind blows.” -- Kate Wilson, age 3†
I am feeling today a heavy burden to capture for you in words something that would dramatically deepen your understanding of our mission and leave you as breathless as we are most days. How can I get just one spark to fall in the right place so that a blaze of generosity, volunteerism, and abiding love will ignite around us!?
So, I sit here looking inside my soul, waiting for inspiration to pen some great insight or profound mystical understanding. I hear a silent voice ask me to look at the trees outside…how they move with the wind. Watch the birds…how they coast and dive with the breeze. Gaze upwards to the puffy clouds…how they follow along at their own pace. The smell of springtime in the wind lifts my spirit and calms my breathing. A slow, deep breath overtakes me and I hold it in for as long as I can. Inspiration is literally all around me and within me.
The ancient Greeks and Semitics each used only one word for wind, breath, and spirit. As they observed the world around them, they knew that something was pushing on them both inside and outside. Sometimes the pneuma or ruach was very gentle, other times they were literally blown away. I think the same is true for those of us who are moved by the mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The wind is always pushing and pulling us. Most of the time it is a soothing breeze, but sometimes the wind is so strong that it hurts. Each of us offers unique breath to “hope, strength, and joy.” Most of the time laughter and joy fill our lungs, but sometimes the pain and sorrow take our breath away. Most of the time we sense a spirit swirling around us and binding us together, but sometimes we cannot find it and feel lost.
You are pneuma and ruach to us. Thank you for sharing with us and walking alongside us as we travel our winding roads of wish granting. Some days you are the wind in our sails. Some days you are the breath on our lips. Some days you are the spirit which binds us tightly. We should tell you more often how much power and effect you have on us and on our mission. You move us! Your gifts of encouragement, time, and resources are what fill and move our wishes…nothing else will! Therefore, I believe with great certainty that, “We will be OK…as long as the wind blows.”
I wish you grace and peace,
Paul Griffin Jones, III (Trey)
†Kate Wilson is the youngest daughter of Stan and Jennifer Wilson. Stan is the pastor of my church. Kate spoke these words during Sunday school on Pentecost Sunday. Let the little children come…indeed!
I am feeling today a heavy burden to capture for you in words something that would dramatically deepen your understanding of our mission and leave you as breathless as we are most days. How can I get just one spark to fall in the right place so that a blaze of generosity, volunteerism, and abiding love will ignite around us!?
So, I sit here looking inside my soul, waiting for inspiration to pen some great insight or profound mystical understanding. I hear a silent voice ask me to look at the trees outside…how they move with the wind. Watch the birds…how they coast and dive with the breeze. Gaze upwards to the puffy clouds…how they follow along at their own pace. The smell of springtime in the wind lifts my spirit and calms my breathing. A slow, deep breath overtakes me and I hold it in for as long as I can. Inspiration is literally all around me and within me.
The ancient Greeks and Semitics each used only one word for wind, breath, and spirit. As they observed the world around them, they knew that something was pushing on them both inside and outside. Sometimes the pneuma or ruach was very gentle, other times they were literally blown away. I think the same is true for those of us who are moved by the mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The wind is always pushing and pulling us. Most of the time it is a soothing breeze, but sometimes the wind is so strong that it hurts. Each of us offers unique breath to “hope, strength, and joy.” Most of the time laughter and joy fill our lungs, but sometimes the pain and sorrow take our breath away. Most of the time we sense a spirit swirling around us and binding us together, but sometimes we cannot find it and feel lost.
You are pneuma and ruach to us. Thank you for sharing with us and walking alongside us as we travel our winding roads of wish granting. Some days you are the wind in our sails. Some days you are the breath on our lips. Some days you are the spirit which binds us tightly. We should tell you more often how much power and effect you have on us and on our mission. You move us! Your gifts of encouragement, time, and resources are what fill and move our wishes…nothing else will! Therefore, I believe with great certainty that, “We will be OK…as long as the wind blows.”
I wish you grace and peace,
Paul Griffin Jones, III (Trey)
†Kate Wilson is the youngest daughter of Stan and Jennifer Wilson. Stan is the pastor of my church. Kate spoke these words during Sunday school on Pentecost Sunday. Let the little children come…indeed!
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