Something Inside

1-21-14

I was at a meeting last night where some people were talking about how busy the health club was since the first of the year.  Being regular, year around participants, the crowded facilities and locker rooms were an annoyance.  They knew that it was the “new year resolution” rush and that by this time next month the club would be back to normal.

A number of years ago I was a victim of this.  I regularly signed up for a new membership at the New Hope YMCA with the good intentions that I would work out and stay in shape.  It never happened.  I still make an attempt almost every year to be a disciplined writer.  There is something inside of me that wants to write.  I try journaling for a few weeks and then stop.  I try blog writing for a few weeks (or one, if you scroll through my record) and then stop.  The “things of the world” you know, “life”.

What I have been thinking about the last couple of weeks though, is that there is “something” inside all of us that compels us, that motivates us, that challenges us to be the person that we were created to be…or, for you religious folks, that God made us to be.  I do believe that there is that something for each one of us.  One area, one passion, one desire, when nurtured and encouraged and fed…produces fulfillment and joy in living.

I have an artist friend who is also a wife and mother.  She struggles to give herself enough time to “let the art come out.”  It burns within her, but she knows that it takes hours a day of devotion for it to become what she knows it can.  And those hours are often hard to come by.

I have been meditating on Luke 4:1-14 the past couple of weeks.  After his baptism, Jesus is “full” of the Holy Spirit and led into the wilderness where he is tempted for 40 days.  After the temptations, Jesus returns to Galilee in the “power”of the Spirit.  There was something inside Jesus.  Look closely at the temptations, we can see that “something” included not only the Spirit but also a knowledge of the Word of God and a loving relationship with Abba (Father God).  This knowledge and relationship and power enabled Jesus to begin his radical ministry and essentially change the world.

My meditation led me to think that whatever that special something is inside of me (and you), I (we) can have the same elements that Jesus had…a knowledge of the Word of God, a loving relationship with Abba and a fullness of the Holy Spirit that gives me servant power to be in radical ministry to a needy world.

I want to encourage you to read the Word, seek the Loving God revealed in Jesus and pray for a filling of the Holy Spirit so that special “something inside” of you can be released and be a blessing to others.

God bless you richly in these days.

d.