ROCK, WATER, SPIRIT
“Look! You can see Neptune!” exclaimed Travis.
“Where? Let me look!”
Travis moved aside and let Natalie peer into the eyepiece.
“What’s it like on Neptune?” asked Natalie.
“No one knows for sure. If it’s anything like Mars, it’ll be rocks and craters.”
“I wonder what we would look like if someone were standing on Neptune looking at Earth through a telescope.”
“Probably just a little bright pinprick in the sky, like Neptune is for us.”
“Solid, though, don’t you think? I mean, Earth is solid. We wouldn’t be able to see Neptune if it weren’t solid, would we?”
“Yup. It’s real; hard as a rock, I should think. Could be flaming gases though.”
The next morning, the littlest cousin, who had been put to bed before dark, wasn’t interested in the chatter about Neptune. She was fascinated by a different rock. She selected one ordinary piece of gravel from the driveway, clasped it in her fist and held it tightly until snack time.
“Let’s wash hands!” I coaxed, and showed where to place her treasured rock on the edge of the sink.
A small stream of water flowed from the tap. I stretched out my hands, palms up, to let the water flow over them, and encouraged my little granddaughter to do the same. But she didn’t. She stared at the stream of water then grasped at it, trying to pick it up in her hand as she done to the rock. The water would not stay; it ran through her clenched fist, down her arm and disappeared down the drain. She tried again, and again. The water was real; it looked solid, but she could not hold it.
Lunch was late that day. New discoveries are exciting. Soap bubbles followed, then splashing in the sink and finally water gurgling and disappearing when the plug was pulled. Then there were many bubbles to swish about with clean hands in a clean sink.
Spirit is like water. Whether it is Holy Spirit or an evil spirit, it cannot be grasped. And spirit cannot be held, touched, bitten or analyzed in a chemistry lab. Like water, spirit is real. Like water, spirit is lost when grabbed, but it flows, fills and causes health or disease. What grows depends on whether it is a stream of Holy Spirit or an evil, destructive spirit. As I have separate taps for hot and cold water at my kitchen sink, I, also, can choose which stream I am going to keep on returning to.
Snatching at the Spirit of God, trying to contain it, package it and be certain I have the formula of its composition is like grasping at a waterfall.
But God’s Holy Spirit flows, filling a person’s spirit with health.
Much about water is a mystery, yet these things I am sure of: water is good; water is wet; water is real; water is accessible. Water is a gift, generously given for our health.
Much about the Spirit of God is a mystery, yet these things I am sure of: God is good; God is love; God is real; God is accessible. The Holy Spirit is a gift, full of truth, honesty and wisdom, generously given for our health.
by Andrea Kidd
