The Spiritual Side

I recently attended a conference to learn more about how the Holy Spirit moves. Those words by themselves elicit a variety of reactions:  some people get really excited, others roll their eyes, and still others ponder the mystery.  Those of us in attendance were simply given permission to share our thoughts and inhibitions. We came to the conclusion that we all believed that the Spiritdoes move and work, but were unclear as to how that is relevant to our lives. The teaching came from Dunamis (http://dunamisfellowshipcanada.org/) which taught the approach of listening and following the Holy Spirit. This spiritual act is simple, yet demands our attentiveness. Perhaps a walk through your neighbourhood leads to an unexpected moment or event that you sense as opportunity; different than a few moments ago when nothing grabbed your attention. On one occasion, I was walking through my neighbourhood and noticed a neighbour trimming bushes at 8 am Sunday morning. This was unlike him, and I had a subtle prompting to just say “hi”. It turned out that he had just experienced the death of a loved one, and within one minute, his eyes teared up as he shared the story- this was what he needed.  Was this the Holy Spirit nudging me?  I believe it was.  So perhaps we can give ourselves permission to try to respond to the Spirit at work in us, always reminding ourselves to do it in love. No weird stuff is necessary and we do not need to manufacture anything in order to call it a “spiritual event”.  We must simply be willing to listen and perhaps gently act on the Spirit’s promptings in truth, grace and love.