The other morning I was where I usually am at 0600… sitting by the fireside spending some quiet time in the Word. We had just had another brief snow shower the night before and as the sun was coming up I noticed that there was not a breath of wind. As I looked out the window and thought about how cold it was (1o degrees) my eye caught a slight movement in one of the trees. Then it was gone. As I continued to look at the tree, there it was again… one leaf moving. Just one leaf on the whole tree… and then it stopped.
I was mesmerized by the fact that it was the only thing moving in the entire back yard. All the other leaves were dead still. That’s when the Spirit began to speak to me, as He always does, in pictures. That pear tree represents the world we live in and that slight “breath” of air represents the Holy Spirit. And just as the breeze was blowing on the whole tree, so He breathes on the whole world. But the mystery was, why did only one leaf move? That one leaf on that one tree represents where He has placed us in the world. We are who He uses to touch the world around us that is ambivalent to His presence.
As I continued to look at the tree and think about what He was telling me an interesting thing happened. The next time that one leave moved, another leaf nearby moved. Now there were two, and only two, moving.
I may be slow but I got the message loud and clear. As we respond to His unction, as we walk in the world around us, we become His vessel to carry His Spirit to those around us. No, we are not going to cause the entire tree to begin moving. He has other leaves in different parts of the tree to accomplish that. We are only responsible for those leaves around us.
And then He made the point… and I am not making this up. As I watched, other leaves in different parts of the tree began to move ever so slightly, and then one and another around them began to move. And it was interesting that they did not continue to move once they stirred, they would flutter and then stop and then flutter once again. Just like us, the individual members of His bride!
I had to stop and ask myself the hard question. Why do I sometimes stop listening to and following the urging of the Spirit in my daily life? Why am I like the other leaves in the tree and fail to stand out? Well, I can’t answer for the leaves on the tree but I can tell you that I have certainly been challenged by the Spirit to listen for and respond to His “breath,” His “voice.” It has made me stop and think about others around me and the impact He desires to have on them… if only I will allow Him to move me!