Much is being written about the Spirit -- Judeo Christian Holy Spirit -- these days. Not that this is a neglected topic among all the spiritual disciplines over time and history. I'm intrigued by the topic because we need to bottle and bridle something or some things within our own spirit that help us understand our drive for life, even our identify as men and women and our passion for creating a world of radical meaning.
The spirit and the Spirit, maybe elusive and imaginative yet real, collide ingeniously and drive us as spiritual men and women.
- Drives us to achieve great things where we define success by a measuring rod of the unseen, the indivisible. Love, for example, is whole and springs from a well within that can paint all the right pictures on the canvas of our experience and walk. You target love as a lifetime dream, rather than money and things, and you transform the defects of your own character, the selfishness you struggle with -- we all struggle with -- and morph them into powerful capacities to engineer your life in ways you may not have imagined.
- Moves us into the realm of the heart, rendering palpitations that keep us on point -- on focus. Because we stay excited to build. Excited to influence a world constructed out of non-strategic inventions that appeal to sex, to drives but not to higher ground. We were meant to create, to be powerful constructors of a world that protects others -- those we love around us -- allowing them to fly safely.
- Motivates us to focus on contagious ideas -- like how to care profoundly or forgive genuinely. Maybe for some, how to think of extending love and care at all. So many of us protect ourselves from feelings, from knowing ourselves because we fear vulnerability. If we're seen, we think we will feel less of our strength. We think others want a rock or a saint -- which we conclude incorrectly means holding our cards close and giving off the impression of resilience and power. Impressions are masks and ways we keep others from knowing the "real" us. We often pretend.
- Gives us courage in a world that challenges us daily to step up into places we haven't learned yet. Like how to be an effective parent, wild lover and mover of our spouses with whom we have partnered for life.
If we want to know ourselves deeply and begin to sustain a life of courage, blended with vulnerability that keeps us current about our true self, we must understand the power of our own spirit and the influence and genius of the God-given Spirit that makes our identity come to life. The Spirit that helps us understand the mind and wisdom of God things, God power and God perspectives.
So 10 things we can do right now to understand our own spirit and the Spirit of life and joining both.
- Talk to the Spirit. About everything.
As men and women, I believe we need to wake up to our calling. The calling of a life saturated with and even consumed with the difference we can make in this brief life we've been blessed with. Knowing our calling and being willing to follow a path that creates and sustains a better world, means we don't go alone. First and foremost, we invite all of the fullness of God's Spirit to teach us and to give us a clear vision of great things. Great things for our family, for those we know in our circle of friends and even to the stranger. That stranger is the world before us.
And when we include Spirit as a fullness that fills our own spirit with life, we have all we need in the world to pursue and to find anchors that provide us with passion for life. That provides meaning that flows from a new identity. One that wells up inside and demands expression in a world that lacks definition -- that needs the inspiration of men and women who find their courage to have a voice that matters. A voice that screams for more -- for ourselves and those we love and even those we don't know. When we grasp this path, the Spirit ceases to be elusive. Rather more like a trusted friend that breathes life into our thoughts, our feelings and our dreams. And makes being a man and makes being a woman full and complete. The elusive becomes real.