The kids and I are doing a little "homeschooling' this summer. Nothing huge, but we are practicing our reading and writing and doing some math facts just to keep their skills in the forefront of their minds. They love to hear about my school experiences while we are working together. And one of the things I shared with them was how my teacher used red pens to correct our papers. Mrs. Nora Brandt was my first teacher, and she taught in the lower room of District 4-R, grades K-4. It was a two-room school and there were probably 10-15 students in each room. Mrs. Brandt always had her red pen in hand, and she would make a large red "C" for "Correct" on our papers when we got a hundred per cent on our work. As we talked about the red pen and how she graded papers, I couldn't help think about our Pentecost celebration at church, marked by the brilliant color of red and the knowledge that we are not alone in the errors we make, and we are promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to assist us in the correction of those errors.
Parishoners were encouraged to wear red in celebration of the Holy Spirit's coming into our lives on the Feast of Pentecost. Of course all of the readings had to do with the promise that Jesus made to his friends..the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us in our efforts to learn how to love one another. Trying to explain what the Holy Spirit is, and does for adults, let alone for children, is not easy. As a matter of fact, the more theology I took, I think the more complex my idea of the Holy Spirit became. Of course the symbol of the dove is always referred to when we talk about the Holy Spirit, but as Nathan put it, what the hec does a white bird have to do with us? As the conversation went on, I asked him to think about the red "C" on my school assignments.
Every one of us is enrolled in a lifetime classroom with the special assignment of learning how to love one another as God loved us. These lessons come in all sorts of forms, some of them harder to recognize than others, but God has the lesson plans all figured out, and not only that, God knew that some of these lessons were going to be hard to understand, so he has a very special teacher's assistant that is everywhere, in all people, and in all things. This special assistant God has entrusted to us is known as the Holy Spirit, and this divine assistant has the power to take something really hard to understand and make it easier for us to understand, and apply to our lives. The Holy Spirit is the one who has the red pen "in hand" and is always there to correct us when we make a mistake in life's classroom. The Holy Spirit's main job is to inspire our thinking so that our thoughts are always aligned with God's thoughts. The Holy Spirit has the special power to stop us in an instant and remind us when our thinking is not how God sees something. And then the Holy Spirit will give us the right words, the right thoughts, the right inspiration to make sure that we are seeing everything the way God sees it. And when our actions demonstrate the highest love possible, we will feel the joy of our hearts wearing the festival vestment of that "red C". Our minds and hearts have been touched by the Holy Spirit, and we have been corrected, changed, and transformed by the power of this holy assistant.
I asked the kids if they ever received an assignment that seemed too hard for them to complete, or seemed to be something they felt they just weren't smart enough to do a good job with. Of course Clare was the first to say a loud and definite YES! Sometimes God knows that there is going to be something that is going to be difficult for us to do, but not impossible. And when we stop and ask for the Holy Spirit to guide us in how to complete the project before us, we have tapped into our supernatural powers that we are born with. Of course Nathan reminded me of his Superhero books like Spiderman, who has the ability to make webs. The Holy Spirit is always waiting for us to call on Him, always willing to open the "well within" and take advantage of the supernatural powers of creativity, inspiration, and knowledge to get the job done. The Holy Spirit swoops down just like Spiderman and makes an impossible situation possible. When we go inside to our inner temple where the Holy Spirit dwells, we are instantly connected to the Web of Life, and everything we do and say becomes a part of that web. The Holy Spirit is our Super Hero, the one who rescues us from certain death, and the one who always stands by ready to lend a helping hand and help us to defeat the evil one. Just like Spider Man is able to scale skyscrapers and move swiftly with perfection from building to building, so does the Holy Spirit. There is nothing too high, too dangerous, too frightening or overwhelming, that the power of the Holy Spirit can't overcome. When we say I can't, The Holy Spirit takes over our hearts and mind and says to us, You can and you will! The Holy Spirit provides the knowledge, the words, the wisdom, the ideas, the plan, the prayers, and the fortitude to keep on going even when you are unsure of the final outcome.
Another example... we celebrated Memorial Day by attending the service at the national cemetery and the whole time that someone was speaking, singing, or performing something, there was a person who was signing the entire program for the deaf. The kids noticed this immediately, especially how beautiful and precise every gesture was. The Holy Spirit functions in the same way a person who knows how to sign does. That person is there to interpret every word spoken so the hearing impaired can follow what is being said. This gives the deaf the chance to "hear" and "learn" what everyone else is hearing and learning. One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to interpret ordinary, everyday events so we can hear and learn what God has to say to us through these events, which are sign and symbols that hold lessons and messages. God is always speaking to us in the ordinary events of our lives. Everything around us holds a message, a thought,or an idea of God's. Sometimes God needs to get something very important across to us, and God will use whatever God needs to use in order that we might "get" the message. It is the Holy Spirit's job to interpret these messages so we can understand what God is trying to say to us. For example, several years back when I was looking for a job, I had asked God to guide me and let me know if this was where I should be looking. I went ahead and emailed the resume and cover letter, but when I hit send, I had received back a "failure notice" not just once, but twenty times over. As I prayed about it, I knew God was saying NO, not this job. And as it turned out, I received a much better offer several weeks from that date, a much different job that I wouldn't have even considered taking. I was set to try and hit "send" again or hand-deliver that resume, but when I stopped to listen to the Holy Spirit's interpretation, I knew it would be a waste of my time. The Holy Spirit stands with God, always interpreting what God is saying, always relaying the message with perfect clarity. The Holy Spirit helps us interpret sermons, scripture, conversations, what we read, and even the message of our favorite music. The Holy Spirit is that part of us that causes us to pause and reflect on what just went on. When something "hits you" or "strikes you" in a different way, you have been touched by the Holy Spirit. When you have that "Aha!" moment, the Holy Spirit has been at work in your life, busily interpreting the thoughts of God.
I asked my kids if their teachers ever individualized any of their assignments and lesson plans according to a student's individual needs, strengths, weaknesses, and challenges. Clare immediately piped up and said that she and some other students were getting different spelling lists because the "normal" spelling list was too easy for them. They needed something more challenging. The Holy Spirit works in the same way. There is no "one size" fits all in the lesson plans of spiritual development. The Holy Spirit is always ready to challenge and present life lessons in a new and different way so that we are fully able to demonstrate the knowledge we have acquired through life's lessons. The Holy Spirit knows that if our spirit is never challenged in new ways appropriate to our level of ability and a little beyond, our spirit cannot grow, develop, and mature. Life's obstacles are used by the Holy Spirit to help our spirits grow in knowledge of ourselves and God so that we might grasp the concepts of who God is and who we are in relationship to God. The Holy Spirit is the director of curriculum development, and is always presenting us with curriculum that is just a little bit beyond us, but yet something we can aspire to... learn, grasp, and eventually teach someone else. The Holy Spirit might nudge us to read a certain book, talk to a certain person, go to a particular bible study, or bring in a "speaker" that is an expert on the subject at hand. Maybe the argument I just had with my spouse is a part of that curriculum. Maybe the construction workers building the foundation of the house next door is today's spiritual lesson. Nothing is off-limits when it comes to how the Holy Spirit teaches and instructs us. The Holy Spirit always has the objectives of God in mind and the objective of loving more freely and deeply, whose outcome is always measured by our actions. The Spirit is forever moving us out of our belief in separation from each other and toward the truth that we are one with everyone, I am you, and you are me. Every life lesson has this principle outcome at its core, and the Spirit is always helping us live this out.
Don't know what to pray or how to pray? Let the Holy Spirit take over. Sometimes a prayer is prayed in us long before it leaves our lips and takes root in our lives. The Holy Spirit causes our prayers, which originate in our hearts, to be formed into spoken words and turned into right action. Several years ago, I kept hearing this one simple thought... Change my thoughts, God, change my life. I heard this for quite some time and then one day it dawned on me that this was a prayer that I should be praying. I began to use this simple prayer for my meditation, and after awhile I began to see how some of my thoughts and beliefs about myself needed changing. I began to see how some of the thoughts I was thinking about myself were actually affecting who I was and who I was becoming. I began to be aware of how I talked to myself. One of the biggest transformation of my thoughts had to do with writing a book of prayers for mothers. I was telling myself I would never finish and there was no way I would find time. I had said that enough times that I began to believe it. The Holy Spirit gave me a new thought to think, a new way of seeing how it could be accomplished, and a new plan of spirit-filled action, and the result was a finished book.
The Holy Spirit is constantly and forever cleansing our minds, praying in us, and transforming our lives through new thoughts, new ideas, and fresh insights. The Holy Spirit encourages us to question, think, and reflect on what is working in our lives and what isn't working out for us. The Holy Spirit is always bringing to the surface those things that are preventing our happiness and our wholeness. Remember when the BP oil spill devastated the gulf coast and there were all kinds of images of wildlife that were being cleaned by volunteers? People who worked hour after hour trying to rid the birds and other wildlife of the thick oil that paralyzed them. It is the same with us. Many of our thoughts are covered in a paralyzing coat of darkness that needs to be washed over and over again until they sparkle. The Holy Spirit searches for these near-death thoughts, beliefs, and man-made doctrines and dogmas that paralyze us and keep us from living the life we were meant to live. The Holy Spirit is our liberator, our healer, and is always about the work of resurrection and freeing us from thoughts that keep us stagnant, immobile, and on the brink of death. The Holy Spirit dredges up what is old, out-dated, and invalid in our thinking and works its magic on our thoughts until the muddy waters of our minds are clear, full of health, and a fully functioning part of the web of life once again. Over and over the polluted waters of our mind, the Holy Spirit treads, carefully sifting out the old from the new, and painstakingly removing every last piece of garbage until the water moves freely and is capable of feeding and nourishing life.
Every moment that we recognize the thoughts of God and act upon them, we celebrate the beauty and the wonder of Pentecost. Every time we have made someone feel loved, feel hopeful, feel encouraged, we have draped our soul in garments of red and opened our heart's arms to receive the dove of peace. As we move forward in the season of Pentecost, may our hearts be enkindled by the inspirations of His Love, and may every corner of the world be filled with the miracles of our God, fully renewed, corrected and transformed. Come, Spirit of God, Come, and rest in our minds and our hearts, blessing us with your inspiration and the gift of every one of your creations.
