June 12,2022
Today’s reading seems pretty straightforward. The Holy Spirit is coming and will continue to reveal Jesus/God’s plan to us despite Jesus leaving this earthly realm.
However, what struck me is how active the Holy Spirit is in this reading. The Spirit is guiding, speaking, declaring, glorifying, and taking. That’s a lot of verbs. You can’t accuse the Spirit of not being busy. Who does that remind me of? Oh yeah: me!
I like to be busy too. I’m busy working, talking, shopping, cooking, and driving. If I’m not busy, it feels like something is wrong or I’m being lazy. If you ask someone how they are doing, their response is often, ”I’m so busy” and then they launch into a litany of errands, chores and responsibilities they have for the day. I’ve never heard someone respond, ”I laid in the hammock all day and read a good book”. It gives us a great sense of self-worth if we say we’re busy, but I don’t think the Holy Spirit is as impressed with our busyness as we are.
I wasn’t always so busy. When I was in college, my older brother and I had enough time to talk several times a week, if not daily. That was before our own careers, marriages and kids took up more of our time. In our telephone conversations, we began to notice that frequently one of us was really excited about their day, while the other person would have less to say. We began to call these conversations “high energy/low energy talks”. My brother, who is more extroverted, would often call and begin his conversation with, “Well it’s a high energy day!” and I would laughingly respond, “Great, I can already feel the life being sucked out of me.” He would excitedly tell me about his day and I would feel somewhat drained as I listened to his story. It takes effort, energy and a desire to truly listen.
When I think about those phone calls now, I realize that to have a real conversation one party has to listen. If both of us converse with “high energy”, it’s just two people yapping at each other and no one is actually listening. It makes me wonder about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is busy in our lives, but we’re also busy. That’s not much of a conversation. I believe we hear the Holy Spirit when we take time to be quiet. For me, that quiet time occurs while I’m meditating, writing, gardening or taking a walk by myself. The most important realizations about my life have all come when I’m not busy or working. That’s when I’ve been able to really hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to me. How do you best hear the Holy Spirit?
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