Lenten Meditation: March 1, 2026
John 3:1-17
“The wind blows where it chooses… so it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)
Nicodemus comes in the dark because he can’t bear to bring these questions into daylight. He expects a lesson or an answer. Instead, Jesus speaks of the Spirit, like the wind, moving where it will, beyond our control.
There is something merciful about this. Jesus is telling us we cannot engineer our rebirth. We cannot perfect ourselves. The Spirit moves first, often when we’re not paying attention.
Most of us know what it’s like to feel stuck. Nicodemus knows that feeling too. And into that place of spiritual dryness, Jesus offers not techniques for improvement but a reminder that God is already at work in ways we cannot predict. A small shift, perhaps, but a real one.
I think that is what new birth often looks like. Not a dramatic breakthrough, but the slow opening of a window we assumed was sealed shut.
And when the Spirit comes, blowing where it will, breathing new life into our souls, we find ourselves turned, almost before we realize it, toward joy, and toward new life.