My husband thinks we’ve gotten old. One sign of which is that we’ve become bird watchers. I don’t think that’s uniquely an age thing; otherwise, every person over fifty would have bird feeders in their yards and binoculars on their windowsills. I do, however, believe that with age comes the ability to see the world and all that fills it with deeper appreciation.
Our bird-noticing began during the pandemic shelter-in-place of 2020. For the first time in the twenty years since we’d moved into our Oklahoma-prairie-home did we sit on the back porch for any length of time. For those two months, we sat transfixed, grateful that the lockdown happened during the spring. Every morning we would watch a mama duck waddle her brood of babies across our yard toward the food our neighbor left for them. We spotted purple martins flying overhead, regularly observed a territorial mockingbird scare off any other that came near, and beheld robins picturesquely plucking the ground of its worms.
When we moved to Texas, we bought our first bird feeder and celebrated as sparrows and finches became frequent visitors, entertaining us with their enthusiasm. Some birds came and went with the seasons, but year-round we had two doves who spent most of their days snatching up the fallen seeds from under the feeder. Lovey and Dovey – so faithful to each other and to their task.
Of course, one of the first things we unpacked upon our arrival to Georgia were the bird feeders. Within a few hours, finches, titmouses, and chickadees made their presence known. As did two different types of woodpeckers and a pair of cardinals. It took a little longer for the doves to appear. But when they did, it felt as though Lovey and Dovey had followed us from Texas.
I felt a peaceful at-homeness as I watched the constant coo-ers hunt for food. Then it struck me – doves bringing peace!
Like the dove that gives Noah the olive branch after the flood recedes (Genesis 8:11), God desires to make peace with His creation.1 Like the dove who descends from heaven as Jesus arises from His baptismal waters (Matthew 3:16), God wants us to see Jesus as His chosen One, “commissioned to bring peace to humankind through His life, ministry, and sacrifice on the cross”.2
The dove, a symbol of peace and reconciliation, also represents purity, innocence, and holiness, which is what we witness Jesus say to His disciples – “be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves” – before sending them out into the world with the Good News (Matthew 10:16). So when we see the dove descending upon Jesus at His baptism, we are assured “that the Spirit with which Jesus was endowed was one of holiness and innocence.”1
The dove gives us visual clues about the unseen Spirit.
Jesus and the Holy Spirit
Throughout His ministry on earth, Jesus-as-man relies on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Immediately following His baptism, the Holy Spirit leads Him into the wilderness to face His enemy (Luke 4:1). Victorious, Jesus then heads to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit” to declare about Himself, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me” (vv.14,18). Then everything else He does – casting out demons, healing diseases, forgiving sins, raising the dead – is sourced by the Spirit (vv.18-19; Matthew 12:28; Acts 10:38).
In tracing Jesus’ journeys throughout the Gospels, we see His dependence on the Spirit. Jesus-as-man is God in flesh, one hundred percent divine and one hundred percent human. What Jesus does points to His divinity, but how He accomplishes the miracles comes not by His own power but the Holy Spirit’s in Him – because He’s human.3 Like us.
Among other things, Jesus demonstrates for us how to live our lives on earth dependent on the Holy Spirit, how to trust His connection to the Father, how to receive the power He holds at the ready for us.
Us and the Holy Spirit (that’s you and me!)
For most of my life, I lived unaware of the presence of birds all around me. I have vague memories of blue jays dive-bombing our cat in the backyard or a mockingbird making a nuisance of himself with his squawking, but I didn’t slow down enough to really notice. And, isn’t that much like our awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence?
We’re too busy to be still.
We’re too distracted to see with spiritual eyes.
We’re too tired to give energy to anything beyond our to do lists.
We’re too numb to feel emotions much less the Holy Spirit’s presence.
But instead of beating ourselves up, what if we just take a page out of Jesus’ book? I don’t know of another human who gave as much of Himself as Jesus did – healing, making whole, saving, freeing. As God Among Us, He had an advantage. He knew His limitations. He knew He couldn’t do it all in His bodily strength. He knew God’s plans were best. All this knowing meant Jesus lived totally reliant on the Spirit.
His life on earth shows us what it looks like to live empowered by the Spirit. Friends, because of the Holy Spirit’s presence in us, we too have an advantage. We have God Himself dwelling in us (2 Corinthians 3:17). And that means we have all we need…if we’ll notice. If we’ll be still. If we receive all He has for us.
“God knows what each one of us is dealing with. He knows our pressures. He knows our conflicts. And He has made a provision for each and every one of them. That provision is Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit, indwelling us and empowering us to respond rightly.”
Kay Arthur
I realize each of us brings with us experiences, theologies, and opinions about the Trinity – about the Holy Spirit. But at the core of it all, the Spirit is God. Yet, somehow, He’s also His own person, and He’s been with God since the beginning (Genesis 1:1-2). And because of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, the Spirit has been loosed in the earth like never before, entering every Jesus-follower, sealing us for the day of redemption (John 14:15-17; Ephesians 1:13).
If we believe Jesus is the Son of God, the One who died and defeated death for us, we. have. the. Spirit. All of us. All the time.
And, yes, the Holy Spirit empowers and equips. He teaches and convicts. For our good but, ultimately, for others’ gain and God’s glory (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It is by the Spirit that…
- We are gifted – for the benefit of the Body of Christ and the good of the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 12).
- We can become like Christ, full of the fruit of His character (2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 5:22), fully in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25).
- We can know God’s will and be guided into all truth (Psalm 143:10; John 16:12-15).
- We can embrace our weaknesses because where we are weak He is strong (Romans 8:26; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
The Word says we are not our own – because we’ve been bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19). Rather, we are temples that host and house the Spirit of God (same verse)! And we are meant to live as such. Not as a guilt-trip or dreaded duty. But because the Spirit is our SOURCE for this life we’re living. With Him we are made whole and holy – not because of anything we’ve done but simply for the fact that we are God’s most precious children.
So, if we’re to take hold of this Christian life, then we have to move beyond shoulds and have to’s. Instead, we invest in our Savior with our whole beings, body and heart, mind and spirit. Jesus is not a task-master. God is not an ego-maniac. They are love. They are goodness. They are holiness. And they want all of those things for us!
To be our best selves, to walk this journey with God well means we embrace our faith in Jesus by loving Him with all that we are, right where we are.4 And we can only do that fully by living in and by and through the Holy Spirit.
Just as we can gain an appreciation for the natural world God has placed around us, we can also learn to see with the eyes of our hearts, opening ourselves up to recognize all that the Spirit is doing.
Maybe that looks like spending a few minutes with Him every morning as we watch the birds at the feeder or wait in the Starbucks or school drop-off line. Or setting a reminder on our phone so we’ll pause periodically throughout our days to invite Him into all we are doing and feeling and believing. Or simply asking the Holy Spirit to reveal more of Himself to us before we ever get out of bed each day.
No matter the how, we know we need the Who. So, like Lovey and Dovey, we persistently seek what feeds us – we sit at the feet of our Teacher and receive all the Spirit has for us. Only these will feed our souls and fill our hearts. The Spirit in us, we in the Spirit – this symbiotic relationship holds the peace we crave and the power we need to fully embrace our faith.
Father God, awaken us to the depths of who You are by giving us a hunger for more of You. We thank You that in the mystery that is your Three-Person-Self, You are Spirit. And in a way that only You can do, You’ve placed yourself within us, around us, among us. Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord, just as You did for Elisha’s servant – so that we might see beyond the natural and into your heavenly realm. So that we might know You better and trust You more. Lord Jesus, how grateful we are that You were willing to live as a human full of weakness so that we would see for ourselves how to live this life of faith in God. Teach us, we ask, how to embrace our weaknesses – so that You can be strong in us. Holy Spirit, we might be able to nod our heads in affirmation that You are with us and in us, but we confess that too often we miss You. We fail to notice your presence with each distraction, doubt, and discouragement. Yet, we want more of You. We ask that You would teach us more about Yourself and how to get still enough to recognize your nearness, your voice, your holiness. We truly want to embrace You more fully so that we can live, not by might or power, but by You, Holy Spirit. Here we are, Lord. Your servants are listening – we’re ready to receive the peace You have for us. In your name we pray, amen.
(inspired by Matthew 5:6; John 4:24; John 14:16-7,23,26-27; 2 Kings 6:15-17; Philippians 3:10; Hebrews 2:17–18; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10; Zechariah 4:6; 1 Samuel 3:10)
Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.
- 1 – Inferred from this Got Questions article
- 2 – Quoted from this Got Questions article
- 3 – David Matthis’ article on the Desiring God website does a great job of unpacking the Holy Spirit’s role throughout Jesus’ conception, birth, life, death, and resurrection.
- 4 – “Loving God with all that we are, right where we are” is the under-girding motto of The Devoted Collective, a ministry that I’m honored to be part of — a ministry that seeks to encourage women in their walks with the Lord. You can learn more about us on our website — and we’re coming to Substack SOON. I’ll keep you posted!
- Kari Jobe’s song, “Be Still My Soul,” on our Embrace Faith playlist is such a beautiful rendition of the old hymn. And it’s the perfect song to help us still our hearts and minds as we enter God’s presence. “Be still my soul, the waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below. In You I rest; in You I found my hope. In you I trust; You never let me go. I place my life within your hands alone. Be still, my soul.” I mean, we could make it our prayer. And when the song is over, we sit quietly. We seek the Lord and listen for the Spirit. I know, it’s not easy for us to get our bodies and minds to get still. Yet it’s in that quiet posture that we can learn to focus on Him. I’m in that process of learning, and the longer I do it the more I long for more of Him. I feel like a greedy thing, but I know there’s always more of God, more of Jesus, more of the Spirit to be had. At New Room (the annual conference of Seedbed), we have a saying — “Come on!” That’s our verbal invitation asking for the Holy Spirit to come on, do His thing. Cuz we’re ready! Come On!!!
- The Abiding Life Newsletter is one way we continue the conversations about embracing faith and abiding in Christ. The most recent issue, “Move Edition,” hit inboxes and is on my page on Substack. There’s always so much to learn and release, witness and receive as we journey with the Lord — even in a big move. XOXO
Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but even more so be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is what aids us in our desire and ability to become more Christlike.
The Holy Spirit. Such a mystery. So misunderstood in our generation of technology and academia. We are a generation that wants to know all the answers and have all the proof. And I think that’s why it’s hard for us to surrender to the truth that we will never know everything. There is much about God we have to take on faith. There is much mystery to embrace as we walk with Jesus. So when it comes to the Holy Spirit — the invisible power and presence of God — we easily miss what He’s doing. We miss the power and strength He has for us.
So, this week. let us make time to ask the Holy Spirit to fill us afresh, to flood our very beings with such an outpouring of Himself that we get to know Him personally and powerfully. Every day. We ask Him to show us more of Him. And we — we receive whatever He gives, whatever He reveals. Then we keep asking. Come on!
- Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s amazing grace with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world!
Featured Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash. “All the Bits and Pieces” photo by Sahand Babali on Unsplash.
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We must be old because we have multiple bird feeders and at least three sets of binoculars. 👀
Haha!! I LOVE it 😍😍