Are we “Blowing in the Wind?”
I’ve always been intrigued by this phrase. As a child, I would stand with my arms outstretched to my sides and lean back thinking the wind would pick me up and I’d be lifted in flight, blowing in the wind, so to say. It never occurred to me that if the wind did pick me up from the position I was standing I’d be flying backwards and upside down but that’s beside the point so what does that phrase actually mean? When I asked others what they thought it meant I got responses of it meaning free-spirited, easily persuaded, unanchored, going with what everyone else is doing, having no purpose, and being tossed to and fro like in Ephesians 4:14.
When I feel like I’m blowing in the wind, I feel like I’m being superficial, petty, or selfish. I don’t like these feelings. I want to feel needed, useful, or purposeful. I want to understand and hopefully correct in my life what it is that’s blowing in the wind.
So I did a little research and this phrase was actually the title of a 1962 song written by Bob Dylan. This is where and when it originated as far as I can find and that intrigued me even more. Bob wrote it as an anti-war song. This song gives a list of questions that were thought could not be answered. In his lyrics, Bob says that the answers are there somewhere “Blowin’ in the Wind.” It’s amazing how this song title has hung around and evolved. Bob Dylan had a message he wanted to convey and convey it did! That message was that every question, every thought you ponder, has an answer. And to add to that everyone and everything has a purpose. There is a reason, an explanation, for every tangible and intangible object. Even the wind has reason and purpose.
God’s word is filled with examples of the wind and its’ purpose, from the beginning as in Genesis 8:1 when the wind causes the flood waters to recede, all the way to the end as in Revelation 6:12-13 when we see it being part of the end times destruction. We also see in John 3:8, that Jesus uses the “wind” as an image of the Holy Spirit, which blows where it wishes, and can be heard although we don’t know where it goes or from where it comes and that it also holds God’s treasure for everyone He seeks.
Since God’s wind and everything has purpose, shouldn’t we express that, act on that, testify to and share that? Or are we just blowing in the wind?
I think of teachers and everything they do and teach. It’s all for a purpose. I think of nurses, dentists and doctors and everything they do and administer. It’s all for a purpose. I think of laborers of every kind and every profession and everything they do. It’s all for a purpose. I think of songwriters like Bob Dylan who writes songs with meaningful words. It’s all for a purpose. So why is it that we spend so much time doing things that have no purpose, that don’t glorify God?
The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble (Proverbs 16:4 ESV).
What are you purposing?
I’ve been trying to think of other song titles or lyrics that have become everyday phrases like this one. Any ideas?
Unraveled Encouragement 