Now that we are about a week into Pentecost, I thought it was fine time to give my props to the Holy Spirit. The Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Ghost - is one of the biggest mysteries of the Christian faith, but I like to think of it like a family. A family is one unit, but it's made up of several intergral parts.
The Father is like the breadwinner of the family, be it the dad or the mom. The breadwinner likely "runs the show" at home, because of his/her financial stake in the family. The breadwinner is also more absent, distant.
The Son is like the stay-at-home parent. The parent that stays at home is a representative of the breadwinner, like Jesus was a representative of God, the Father. The stay-at-home parent is the bridge between the rules of the breadwinner and us children (humans) that are always messing it all up. The one that puts his/her arm around us as says, "trust me, I'll take care of you."
But the Holy Ghost. Well, that's where the mystery comes in. What role does it have? I could make jokes about how the Holy Ghost is the crazy, fun uncle of the family, but that doesn't really fit.
I think the Holy Ghost is like the love of the family. Think about it. The Holy Ghost is supposed to be the spirit of God, the part that changes our hearts, that moves us. And that is exactly what love in a family is. No matter how strong or weak a relationship between children and parent(s) is, love within a family has a strange, overriding power to move us. What else explains how families can fight like crazy, but still love each other at the end of the day? How we put up with stuff from our family members that we would dare let friends get away with?
The Holy Ghost is my favorite of the Holy Trinity. It is the one that I feel closest to, because even when I'm not praying regularly or feeling particularly in tune with God, the Holy Spirit will come knocking on my heart's door and say "just checking in." And in a way, I think the Holy Ghost is God's gift of free-will at its finest. By talking to us through our hearts/conscious, the Holy Ghost is saying "This is what I want you to do, but I'm not going to force it on you, I'm just putting it out there." Then it's our choice to follow that instinct, or to ignore it. And usually, that tingle in my conscious is saying "Love that person" in one way or another. Either by suggesting I be nicer to someone, or to include them, or to make them feel special, or to stop thinking bad thoughts about them.
Yeah, the Holy Spirit is a badass. Sure, It doesn't get as much glory - It didn't create the world; It didn't come to the world in himan form and sacrifice Itself for everyone. But, Its the one that gets to take all of the love that God created for the world (abundant, infinate love) and deliver it to all of us. At the end of the day, that's a pretty great job for 1/3 of a Diety.
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2 comments:
"What else explains how families can fight like crazy, but still love each other at the end of the day? How we put up with stuff from our family members that we would dare let friends get away with?"
Can I offer a cynical/realist answer? Because, um... we share genes with those people, and our genes have an interest in perpetuating themselves (which more generally explains why people tend to trust those who look like them.. especially men, because of paternal uncertainty). Obviously this is a bit of a simplistic answer, as elaborating on it to the degree it warrants would take up too much space, but just thought I would play the asshole and throw that answer out there. (One note though: I don't mean to say that we are therefore psychologically selfish--the altruism and love is very real, and beautifully selfless in most cases. The ultimate and proximate explanations can be rather different.)
P.S. If you want to see an awesomely embarrassing and (at least in my opinion) hilarious use of the the song Unchained Melody, watch the video on my facebook page.
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