Our Blog is inspired by The Holy Spirit.
Monday has had an interesting start. I read the readings for the day and groned, but nothing came to mind. I said a short prayer to the Holy Spirit for help,
Nothing!
I reread the readings, and still,
Nothing!
Then I, we, went to the top of the page and saw Optional Memorial of Saint Maria Goretti, virgin and martyr.
I read the three readings for Saint Maria Goretti and celebrated. I knew we could find plenty to write about.
Now the decision: what does the Holy Spirit want to talk about?
We decided on the passage, “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat;.”
Over the years, I, we, have thought about this passage,
A lot.
Why?
I, we, believe that this first points directly to the Cross.
Jesus, during his Life and UP to His death, was that grain of wheat. When He died, the most amazing thing happened, three days later He rose and became our Lord and Savior.
He changed so much that Mary of Magdlia didn’t know Him (John 20:14). He walked threw doors (John 20:19) yet ate fish (Luke 24:42).
Jesus was Jesus,
But in a new glorified state.
And we are promised the same change if we follow and live as Jesus lived, filled with the Holy Spirit doing the will of God His and our Father.
When?
When we die?
Yes!
But more importantly, as we live now.
And that is the second thought we want to mention.
Change will happen at death, but most importantly, change happens now!
Look around you and notice the people trying to do the will of their Father. They are filled with Joy, and Joy makes the person become a light in a dark world.
I read the book The boy who came back from Heaven by Kevin Malarkey. In that book, the boy identified his deceased grandfather not by a picture of him in his old age, but after much searching, over a period of time, as a young man in his twenties.
I believed the story when the boy told his parents he met his sister in Heaven. The parents were stunned because they had never told the boy of the miscarriage his mother had when the was younger and would have been his younger sister.
God is not a throwaway God!
We were, and are, loved from the start of time, and we are here for a purpose, and the Joy each of us has is to find out what God wants us to do now.
The third point we want to make is that when you combine many people who are trying to do the will of God The Father, we become a field of flowers that is even more beautiful.
Oh yes, never forget satan will point out our shortcomings, and sadly, we all have many,
But,
Criticizing, mocking, and anger is not a field I wish to live in, so I have a choice, which by now, I am sure all of you know what I, we, and I pray you have chosen.
I couldn’t be happier.
Interestingly, I opened this blog describing my issues with trying to identify what God wanted us to write about, and it wasn’t until I went back to the top of the page that I found my answer in an alternate reading.
God answered my short prayer, and I have been filled with Joy as words flow from our mind to the computer keys.
“The nine” We pray you will grow in the Love, Joy, and Peace of the Holy Spirit by growing in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
Fred Prince creating a Garden at a church in Honduras.
Once again, the Holy Spirit is taking care of me.
I had no idea what we would talk about in the sidebar. Yes, I even thought I would skip writing a Sidebar for this blog.
We usually write the first draft Monday, insert the pictures on Tuesdays, and review and edit every day until Friday when I submit next week’s blog.
Tuesday I could be busy receiving the new kitchen cabinets that are being delivered, satan said, “Skip the Sidebar,” the Holy Spirit called to my mind two, not one but two pictures, which completed Tuesday’s task, which we think tell the story of the seed beautifully.
The first is a picture of Gail’s side garden and look at the Joy these flowers bring into our lives. Neighbors told Gail many times they felt at Peace looking at her gardens.
The second picture is of me creating a garden at a church in Honduras.
We tell the whole story of the garden in A Journey with the Holy Spirit Revised Edition, and we don’t have the space to do that now,
Briefly;
We, Mike, I, and I think fifteen other members of St. Richards Church in Jackson, Mississippi, fifteen years ago, went to Honduras to help rebuild a church and build a house.
The Holy Spirit pushed me into working on the church; why I didn’t know.
The Holy Spirit suggested I build a garden in the front of the church.
I was able to find the plants from a land owner who had an extensive collection, “Take anything you want,” he told me.
But,
I didn’t and still don’t know squat about plants, how to lay out the flowers, plant them, and most importantly, how to involve the local women.
I said a prayer, a very short prayer,
“HELP’”
And the Holy Spirit led me to meet another member of our group, that night, who had studied horticulture and had a degree in floral design. She was working on the house our group was also helping to build and agreed to change over to our group’s project.
Wow, I was blown away by my good fortune.
God working in my, our, life.
Everything the Holy Spirit wanted to accomplish was completed because of this woman, and I was filled with Joy to get down in the dirt and do the bull work.
Why are we showing the two pictures?
The one at the top shows the result of much hard labor on Gail’s part,
and,
The one at the bottom illustrates this can be a messy process, but stay with the Holy Spirit, and all will come out for the glory of God the Father.
Top Picture:
One last thought: Gail’s Garden is not one type of flower-only garden but a mixture of many different flowers, combined with dirt, grass, boulders, and bushes bringing even more beauty to her garden.
Our lives should be similar, where we welcome everyone to our table and let our love for them be the fertilizer that grows our relationships.
The bottom picture is also interesting because my spiritual garden was filled with the weeds of a bad attitude, anger, envy, and lack of trust in God, to mention four.
Sadly, there were also other weeds.
It was dirty work cleaning the garden, but the result for me has been, as I pray you now know, a life filled with the flowers of Love, Joy, and Peace.
And this is our prayer that you will tend your spiritual garden and cultivate Love. Joy, and Peace.
