If I was somehow transported back to 16 years of age and someone told me all of the things that would happen in the next 10 years leading up to the present day moment, I would not believe even a fraction of it.
Maybe you can relate.
I’m surrounded with anxious voices. Outside and Inside. Parents, peers, and teachers. Bosses, book and daily news. I assess for danger and avert risk at all costs. I plan and strategize. I seek so badly to know what’s ahead before it happens. Much of this planning is in vain. What I often worry about most never actually plays out how I think it will.
In mitigating risk and failure, I’ve learned I often quenched Mystery and Wonder.
In an age of predictability and reliability we’ve grown accustomed to pre-packaged answers, absolute certainty, and promised results for the hard work, time and energy that we put into life. But what if there’s more to it than that. More than fearfully waiting for something to happen (or not happen).
There’s this great scene in the gospel of John, right after Jesus is killed, where the disciples are hiding out in a locked room together “for fear of the Jewish leaders”. Then Jesus appears to them in resurrected form and speaks, “Peace be with you!”. I love the juxtaposition.
They were waiting in fear. They had been with Jesus for years and still became afraid when they were faced with the thing they were promised would happen. They were unable to see outside the confines of the situation they were in because they had accepted the way things appeared. Their leader was dead and the revolution they expected was not going to happen. Their plans were crushed and so were their spirits. They could only see what was happening above the surface of the situation.
Fast forward into the story and we see a different kind of waiting and a different response in Acts chapter two. The disciples are waiting, but this time with anticipation for what’s going to happen next.
They have tasted and seen.
They’ve experienced the Mystery of the Christ resurrected and believe in their own resurrection – that their dead and fearful and controlling and predictable lives can be opened up to more meaning, purpose and love than ever thought possible before.
So the Wind comes. New language is birthed and a new era is ushered in. The age of the Spirit is inaugurated. Fiery passion and love is being experienced for the world to see. The revolution is happening.
The disciples witness something more mysterious and beautiful than they could have ever thought possible… yet, at the same time, they were expectant. They were ready. They were waiting in a room but not in fear. They were waiting on the edge of their seats for the new thing to arrive.
Spirit goes before all things and invites humanity into a new story. A new normal. A new plot. A fresh way of seeing the world – as full of possibility and excitement and brimming with awe.
Like a surfer patiently waiting for the perfect wave in anticipation or a surprise party that takes your breath away. We’re designed to experience life beneath the surface. All of reality as it appears is not as it actually is. There’s more. More depth. More meaning. More mystery. More love.
My tendency is to lock into rhythms of life and to expect the expected. To manage and to shift my time and duties into categories of efficiency and productivity so that the next expected thing falls right into place. This is not how it ought to be, though. I’m determined to live beyond the surface of what I can see, touch, taste, and smell right here and right now.
I’m waiting with anticipation for the new thing Spirit is doing. Because, Peace is with me!
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