Someone recently sent me a Christmas card in a letter that had a small colorful pinwheel sticker attached to the envelope. No explanation was offered, which was in the character of the sender. I didn’t ask my friend what it meant, it was in my character. Instead, I studied the meaning of the pinwheels and the symbols of the pinwheels.

A pinwheel is a wind-catching design that will briefly take advantage of a small portion of a breeze to circulate the design around its spinning wheel, which is affixed to or attached to an axis (such as a stick). Some pinwheels rotate on their axis to relocate the breeze when it changes direction. The earliest evidence of a pinwheel design dates back to China in 400 BC. But, the concept was renewed at various times in various human cultures.

Today, the symbol of a pinwheel, given to someone, is a communication that means “you matter” or “you matter to me.” But I received the symbol in an envelope containing a Christmas card. The sender was a Christian. I’m Christian. I found evidence that the symbol is an early Christian symbol. Christians believe that God is Lord and Master and that God moves us to love him through the Holy Spirit. They also believe that God made a union with a human woman, through the Holy Spirit, to produce a male child, God’s only son, Jesus, who would be the Christ (hence the Christian title). The pinwheel symbolizes the capture of the Holy Spirit, which is described to move through all means, but is mostly attributed to moving like the wind. As far as I can determine, the symbol was derived after Pentecost. See The Bible, Acts 2, where the Holy Spirit is described as the sound of a wind blowing violently from heaven.

Search the web for “Infant Jesus with a Walker” to see a painting from the year 1480 depicting Jesus as a child, walking upright with the aid of a three-stick walker. The three rods symbolize God, the Holy Spirit and the Son of God (Jesus himself). The painter depicts Jesus practicing for the role he would play in bearing the sins of man at his own death and resurrection. Note that the baby Jesus is carrying a pinwheel, implying that the Holy Spirit (in the form of wind) prompts him to learn and practice destiny from him. The painter created a different scene, on the back of this painting, to show an adult Jesus working with his cross, towards his crucifixion site. There is no pinwheel in the second scene, because the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the heart of Jesus, impels him to fulfill God’s purpose.

What’s in your heart?