Meditation: May 20, 2007

" But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. " Acts 1:8

Reflection: I've been writing, on and off, for 40 years.

I think I'm fairly modest. Not many people outside my family know that at age 11 I was a published author, commanding the pages of a hard cover book. Well, I didn't write all the pages. OK, so I wrote one page. OK, OK, so I had the top half; the bottom was a line drawing of a snow-filled farm lane.

     Snow
     ----

     Falling,
               bumping,
       swirling,
                 sparkling,
     tiny   silver
              snowflakes
     glisten on the ground.

Cute, huh? The book was compiled by Carol Burnett, filled with poems sent by schoolchildren across the country. Carol paid me with an autographed copy.

I saved essays from second grade through my twenties, an eclectic mash of clever, funny, poignant and awful. But not much was useful except for my own amusement.

My pencil went silent for many years while I tended job, marriage, and kids, but quietly God was authoring changes in circumstance, priority and faith.

When I resumed writing, something intangible had changed. It was not in the words, rhythm or style, because they were familiar. Yet the new stories luminesce with more purpose, presence, and witness than the old.

It's inexplicable, unless you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Bless us, Holy Spirit, with your invisible power. Give us the patience to wait for it, the humility to acknowledge it and the boldness to trust it. Amen         

Question of
the Week: What has God changed in me? How has the Holy Spirit uniquely prepared me to be Christ's witness?        

Meditation written by Bob Krause of the St. John's Writing Team.