Airborne Above the Storm

Image credit yooperann on Flickr

Blow Your breath into my emptiness, Holy Spirit, 

   filling deflated hopes and energy, lifting me

      Airborne above the storm.

"I wait patiently for You," sang the Psalmist David.

I can't yet say the same; I cry for change in the game--

     Now, please, not tomorrow!

 Still, when I am still in Your presence, Your Wind begins

     taking precedence over my mind; I lock my wings

    to soar the upward climb.

  Truth of Your Word steadies me; Your Spirit, life renews;

Wings of prayer and praise help me hide in You, rise to You

Gliding into Glory!

I will come down on the other side to share Your story

of Good News, with Your views:  Abiding in You, we win--

    Riding upon Your Wind!

For a writing assignment in college, we went to the library to view a deflated globe and write an essay about it.  Ever feel that energy and air have been sucked out of your whole world?  As a young girl, I loved the little chorus, "Let it breathe on me; let it breathe on me; let the breath of God now breathe on me..."  Somehow, the idea of His being close enough for me to feel His breath seemed comforting, intimate, and empowering.  We also sang, "Filled with God, yes, filled with God--pardoned and cleansed and filled with God...empty of self and filled with God."  I never tried inflating a globe, but I had lots of practice blowing my breath into balloons.  On one occasion, a neighbor asked me over to blow up more than a dozen balloons for a party!  (She must have thought me a "windy" little girl!:)

     Ever feel just weary of it all?  Growing up in church, I heard lots of sermons about eagles, the favorite text, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary..."  (Isa. 40:31)  In Mexico, I heard a speaker refer to the "wings" as being prayer and praise, and our inability to fly far using only one or the other. 

     Early in 1981, I bought a copy of Jaime Buckingham's book Where Eagles Soar.  I'm not sure what happened to it, but I never forgot his specific analogy which included air balloons and eagles.  Actually, I don't even remember exactly how he applied it; but on something of a flat day over a year ago, all these thoughts returned and converged together.  It became my prayer--then and often since.  So, I wanted to give credit where due and remind you that all we see and hear can return to bless us or battle against us.

     This I know:  Our own understanding, abilities and resources are limited, but God's are not.  We need Him.  Overwhelmed?  Call out to Him!  He's there; He's listening: He cares.  And His power can lift you up above circumstance.

    

     I've always thought it would be exhilarating to ride in a hot air balloon; someday I might get to try it! Okay, one of those shivery, quivery thrills, maybe, but I'd love to be aloft, looking down from above!  I think maybe I was just meant to fly!  But every day, if I take the time, He lifts me up in His Spirit to see things from His perspective, to soar above present storms.  He'll do it for you, too.