This is what a hot-air balloon looks like from inside the basket. I had the privilege of experiencing this on New Years Day 2013. The ride was delightful and full of surprises. The biggest surprise was finding that my hair wasn’t blowing in the wind. In fact, I couldn’t even feel or hear the wind. Yet, I knew it was blowing because the balloon kept traveling sideways. We were part of the wind, and whichever way it went, we went.
Another surprise was the amazing quietness as we sailed above the earth. The only sounds were our voices and the occasional loud whoosh of hot air being blasted upward to keep us aloft. Activities going on below us seemed remote and disconnected from us.
How similar a balloon ride is to our spiritual lives. In God we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). When we allow ourselves to dwell in God’s presence, then wherever He goes, we go. Whether or not we feel anything, we are in the flow of His Spirit, just as in the balloon we were one with the wind.
By focusing on the pilot and the balloon, I felt secure in the basket. In the same way, we can focus on God’s love and be secure in His presence. Then, like the activities on the ground, our circumstances will fade. They won’t disappear, but when we are transported to a place where we can see them from God’s perspective, they become less important.
Who knew a ride in a balloon would really be a picture of life with God?
Love this analogy !