“The work of the Spirit to keep you growing is to keep you vulnerable to life and love. The major metaphors for the Spirit are always dynamic, energetic, and moving: elusive wind, descending dove, falling fire, and flowing water. Spirit-led people never stop growing and changing and recognizing the new moment of opportunity.”
— Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance
An Invitation to Stay Open
There is something deeply true—and quietly unsettling—in these words.
Most of us, if we are honest, spend much of our lives trying to become less vulnerable. We seek stability, predictability, and control. We want to arrive at a place where things make sense, where our beliefs feel settled, and where life no longer surprises us.
But the Spirit does not lead us toward a place of control.
The Spirit leads us into a life that is alive.
And to be fully alive, we must remain open.
Vulnerability is not weakness. It is availability. It is the willingness to be touched by life, changed by love, and shaped by each new moment that comes our way.
A closed life may feel safe, but it cannot grow.
An open life may feel uncertain, but it is where love flows.
The Language of the Spirit Is Movement
Richard Rohr reminds us that the Spirit is never described in static terms. The great metaphors of the Spirit are always moving, always dynamic:
- Wind — unseen, unpredictable, impossible to control
- Dove — descending gently, arriving without warning
- Fire — transforming, purifying, and consuming
- Water — flowing, adapting, finding its way forward
Each of these images teaches us something essential:
The Spirit is not something we possess. It is something we participate in.
To live by the Spirit is to learn how to notice the movement and respond—to feel the wind and lean into it, to receive the dove when it descends, to trust the fire even when it burns, and to follow the water as it flows into new terrain.
Growth Requires Letting Go
If Spirit-led people never stop growing, then they must also never stop letting go.
Growth is not just about gaining new insights. It is about releasing what no longer serves life and love:
- Letting go of old certainties
- Letting go of rigid identities
- Letting go of the need to control outcomes
This is why vulnerability is essential. Without it, we become closed systems—defended, predictable, and ultimately stagnant.
The Spirit is always inviting us into the next moment—what Rohr calls “the new moment of opportunity.” But we cannot enter that moment if we are clinging too tightly to the last one.
The Courage to Stay in the Flow
This kind of life takes courage.
It means:
- Being willing to be changed by love
- Allowing new understanding to reshape old beliefs
- Remaining teachable, even late in life
- Trusting that God is present not just in what was, but in what is still becoming
And perhaps most beautifully—it means recognizing that the spiritual journey is never finished. Not at 30. Not at 60. Not at 76.
The Spirit is still moving. Still inviting. Still breathing.
A Front Porch Reflection
Out on the porch, with a glass of sweet tea in hand, this truth settles in gently:
Life is not meant to be held tightly like something fragile we might lose.
It is meant to be lived openly—like a field receiving the wind,
like a river flowing toward something unseen but trusted.
To be Spirit-led is not to arrive.
It is to keep saying yes.
A Closing Prayer
Spirit of the Living God,
keep me open when I would rather close.
Keep me moving when I would rather stay still.
Blow through the rooms of my life that I have sealed shut,
and carry me into the new moments You are creating.
Make me vulnerable to love,
and therefore alive to You.
Amen.
A Blessing
May you feel the wind and not resist it.
May you welcome the fire and not fear it.
May you flow like water into each new day.
And may the Spirit find you open—
again and again—
as the journey continues.
The Curious Pilgrim 
Leave a comment