“[Jesus said,] ‘When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.'” – John 16:13
May the Spirit of Truth visit me, O Holy One,
for I live squinting into trees, struggling to
discern the movements of the Spirit’s wings
from the motions of the tossing wind,
a wind which might reflect the Spirit, too.
I strain to disentangle fern and feather, branch and beak,
blossoming lehua from the nectar-feeder there.
Through magnifying glass and brightening screens
you’d think I’d recognize the truth above,
but still I struggle to keep focus on the Truth.
Perhaps I should lay down the lenses and
the sensors that record the light, set my ears
to listen to the Spirit’s various calls,
and find the Truth in other medium
than sight.
A poem/prayer based on John 16:12-15, the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel Reading for Year C, Trinity Sunday.
Blurry photo of an i’iwi in juvenile plumage by Eric Anderson.
ordainedgeek 
Lay them down but only for a moment.
That’s probably about as long as I can… It is *possible* that I went to take photographs in some beautiful areas on Kauai before the Conference’s ‘Aha Pae’aina began. It’s also possible that I took over 1,600 photos and videos in a day and a half.
I’m intrigued by the juxtaposition of the confusion of sight, even in the natural world to which you clearly are attuned, and the possibility of truth coming to us from other senses.
People who can identify birds by their calls amaze me. I have only an inkling of how much study that takes. I wonder whether we ignore spaces in which the Spirit communicates because we’re not paying attention there.
And “greedy-I” who has, of your islands, only been to Kauai covets seeing them all to visit again in my mind.
You would be more than welcome!
Thank you for that welcome and it might be sometime the case, but now my main ‘doing’ is caring for Donald as he navigates the limitations of his illness, but your stories and photographs take me there every week and for that I am so grateful.