"Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this." Rev. 1:17-19.

Friday, February 4, 2011

The Power of the Spirit

On Tuesday night, the winds came. I awoke to their relentless howling as they beat against the bricks and smashed through the trees. Like invisible waves being pulled back into the depths of the sea, the gusts of wind washed over the earth, ripping through the landscape with an energy that could not be contained. It was as if the wind were determined to uproot everything that clung to the earth. With what wild joy it would have torn houses from their foundations and sent whole cities somersaulting into the future.

I wonder how much of the mournful wailing within my own soul results from the Holy Spirit's insistent tugging on obstacles that are holding on too tightly: spindly saplings of fear that have sent down complex root systems into the dense clay of my will; thick walls of stubborn judgment that divide my heart into small parcels; towers of pride piled on top of deeply-dug foundations? How powerful the Love must be that can send such impediments flying! How unrelenting the Grace must be that can uproot them over and over again.

While I pray for God to hold me fast through the storm, God answers like the inexorable wind.

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