Friday 8 May 2009

We are at the end of our journey in "The Strength to Love" by M.L. King, Jr., and it ends with Mother Pollard.

Since that dreary night in 1956, Mother Pollard has passed on to glory and I have known very few quiet days. I have been tortured without and tormented within by the raging fires of tribulation. I have been forced to muster what strength and courage I have to withstand howling winds of pain and jostling storms of adversity. But as the years have unfolded the eloquently simple words of Mother Pollard have come back again and again to give light and peace and guidance to my troubled soul. "God's gonna take care of you."
This faith transforms the whirlwind of despair into a warm and reviving breeze of hope. The words of a motto which a generation ago were commonly found on the wall in the homes of devout persons need to be etched on our hearts:
Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. There is no one there.

Some days, all that is needed is that "reviving breeze of hope." In the middle of all that can and does overwhelm us, remember there is that breeze that cannot be shut out. It is present, has been present, and will be present whipping around us. We may not feel it - for we do not want to simply count on our senses to be assured of its present - but it is part of a promise that is in place even when there is no evidence that it is swirling around us and ready to pull us into life that is deeper and richer than we could have ever imagined. In the meantime, it is vital for all of us to recognized the torment and the travails and the turmoil that is present in our lives and the energy it takes to simply stand up and be counted. It is as we are honest with our predicament that we can humbly begin life anew - within the power of the Spirit of our God. This is even as we do not know where that will take us or how we will get there. Instead, when fear is staging its grand events all around us, our God nudges us to remind us that no one is there. That is the power for new life.

Connection: A reviving breeze of hope - when was the last time you were whipped up by its presence. Remember, it is always whirling around us...we just have too many other things that grab our attention and attempt to lead us as they would like.

Come, Holy Spirit, take us up into your swirling presence so that we will be encourage to step beyond ourselves and the fears that often hold us and step into the every growing fullness of your Reign. Amen.