Called Along Side

Do you remember learning to ride a bicycle?  Or, maybe, teaching your son or daughter to ride one?  Katy is braving the park without the training wheels this spring. 

Katy has a fear of going down inclines—speed is more Elsa’s thing.  It seems easier for her when she has to peddle rather than coast.  Going straight is also preferable to turning left or right.  And, of course, she demands that I stay right beside her at all times.

Instructing Katy on her bike brings back a lot of memories for me and offers a lot of spiritual lessons.  For instance, like Katy, I sometimes get a little anxious in response to increasing momentum.  I begin to wonder if I am going to be able to maintain balance at the dangerous pace things are progressing.  Even if it is a bit more work to climb an incline at least I feel more in control.  Strength is easier to come by than courage.  Changing direction is also a fear Katy and I have in common.  Keeping my eyes forward and focusing on an established point helps me set my course.  Having to deal with a new direction breaks my concentration and I feel as if I am beginning to wobble.

Then there is that all important issue of having a protective presence with me.  There are times when I need the reassurance that if I begin to lose my balance someone will catch me; guidance will be there when I need it.  I need to know that when I am trying something new or risky I am not alone.

As we enter into the season of Pentecost our minds turn intently toward the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit is that presence of God which is always with us; always a voice of guidance and encouragement; the Comforter whom Jesus promised to send to us.  With the sustaining presence of the Holy Spirit we have all we need to continue to enjoy the fullness of the mission of Christ and our place in it.  Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we are equipped to face the fears and dangers ahead of us.  We will be able, with the help of the Spirit, to keep our spiritual balance regardless of momentum or incline.  We will be able to navigate all of the twists and turns that our paths may take.  We have the reassurance that if, or when, we fall there will be a restorative hand offered to lift us and set us back on our way.   

I will not be able to stay beside Katy much longer as she continues to develop skill and speed. 

As she develops confidence she will not even want me to be with her while she is riding.  There will come a day very soon when she is surprised to find that she is riding on her own without any help from Dad.  Yet, life requires more balance than a bicycle.  Katy’s trust, and mine, will have to be placed in the Holy Spirit whose coming we celebrate in Pentecost.  It is comforting to me to remember that the Greek word for Holy Spirit literally means “the one called along side.”  Let us not only celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost but let us also celebrate the Holy Spirit who stays at our side, now and always.