A Strong Driving Wind and Tongues of Fire

 It was Pentecost yesterday.  Did your feel the Holy Spirit and power?  The Holy Spirit is what Jesus sent to us.  He left and went back to Heaven so that he could send the Spirit.  And yet so many people ignore the Holy Spirit.  This is the power to love, the power to have faith.  The Holy Spirit is our advocate.

Whatever you might think about the Charismatic Renewal or the people who exercise gifts of tongues or prophesy or the like, the Holy Spirit is here for all of us who believe in Jesus, who call ourselves Christian.  My experience with the Holy Spirit is the certainty of faith, of belief.  The Holy Spirit is here to help us, if we ask, if we allow.

When I was confirmed as a young child, I thought tongues of fire appeared.  I felt the gift of the Holy Spirit.  I prayed in tongues as a child.  But, I wasn't sure what it meant.  I wasn't sure if I was allowed to pray in tongues as a Catholic.  I didn't encounter the Charismatic Renewal until I was in my 20s.  My experience with the Renewal was good and bad.  But the faith life, the prayer life I developed in that time remains.

For me, Pentecost is a time to take stock of my life and to recommit to the good I am called to do.  I think about the areas that still trouble me.  I look at my growth in faith, in love. I let the Holy Spirit kindle in me the fire of God's love.

Unbound

 Probably the thing I feel best about right now is my sponsorship of M_ a ten year old girl from Guatemala. I sponsored her so that this is one less child that will be lining up in the impossible line to try to get into the United States.  From my letters back and forth with her, it sounds as though she is working at school and helping her family.  I have only seen her picture, but I love her and her family. My little girl has been confined to home and is hoping to go back to school when the pandemic is over.

I have been very impressed by Unbound.  They have not sent me a million letters or seemingly have not sold my name to a million different charities.  Occasionally on a special holiday or birthday they will suggest an additional contribution, but without a lot of guilt or pressure.  This is not my usual experience with charities.

There are two other charities that I have contributed to in the recent past and I believe in their missions.  But, they send me continual letters and have sold my name.  If I hear once a week from a charity, they are spending too much on postage. It makes me mad to see money spent this way.

If you are looking for a charity, I recommend Unbound.  I like their mission and I like the way they conduct their business.  I can't do everything, but I can do something to make the world a little bit better.

And So It Goes...

Life holds many surprises.  God has many surprises.  I have recently concluded that it is all surprise.  I once thought I had some control, but I have found that at best I have input.  I don't control outcomes, no matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I pray. God isn't a haggler or a dealer. 

But God is love.  In the midst of crisis or sadness, that can be hard to remember.  God is good and God is love.  And my life will be happiest if I can be as loving and as good as I am capable of, do my best.

Be grateful for the now, not for something in the future.  Be grateful that I breathe, that today I am okay.  I have troubles and problems.  I am human, and life holds unhappiness and things to worry about.  I have a choice, focus on those things, or focus on the good, on the things that are right.

And so today, this day, I am grateful, thankful, joy-filled for the ordinary goodness in my life.  For the good God who gives me hope and joy, who teaches me to love.  Another Pentecost is here.  I wonder if I can get more of the Holy Spirit or a re-awakening of the Holy Spirit already in me?  Regardless, this Pentecost I am praying for a resolution to my annulment, for greater involvement in my church community, for more friends, for my grandbaby, for greater expression of love in my life.  And so it goes.....