I’m moving in the next month from our apartment here in Buffalo adjacent to the lovely campus of Daemen College to our first “real” home. Moving often brings with it the opportunity to take stock and to look at what one has accumulated and what can be disposed of and what we’d like to retain. Each time I move some things indeed need to be given away, thrown out, or stored away.
But I honestly don’t believe that I have abandoned things so much as I have had to make room for other things–things that the Holy Spirit calls me to each and every day. Sometimes I listen to that call but many times I ignore it or push it aside.
I call this the Spiritual Suitcase. God calls us to pack up and move where He is guiding us and in that there is often a great fear in leaving things behind for these new and unchartered adventures. Each call that we answer brings a bit of loss in leaving something behind–something that we just can’t bring with us.
We find it tough that we can’t take everything that brings us comfort! A friend who is moving this year noted that he probably won’t be able to be as close with several friends who he has developed relationships with throughout his college years because he is headed to the remote climbs of Alaska! A great adventure but perhaps a lonely one at times. Perhaps the spirit is leading him to get more in touch with himself and his friends don’t allow for that to happen on as deep of a level that is needed for him to grow?
There will be a bit of pain for all of us as we move forward into new adventures. In my own case, I know I miss some of my friends in NYC (although I have to say Facebook has made it easier to stay in touch with many) but there are days here where I am so intimately connected with where God has called me that other concerns are literally, not just seemingly, far away.
For me to grow as a minister I had to give up a bit of my national prominence that I gained with BustedHalo® and with the book, Googling God. But I also have gained the “on the ground” experience that got me into this game to begin with, an experience that I had been missing.
It is that intimate experience of uniting our hearts with the spirit that I think we all crave, even though we might fear where the spirit is leading us.
This Pentocost may we be open to the spirit that leads us to complete union with all that God wants us to be. For indeed Pentecost allows us to become the best version of ourselves.
And that is better known as being a saint. Amen.