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MAY 8<br />
A FREE SPIRIT<br />
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, one<br />
cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh,<br />
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to<br />
you, ‘You must be born again.’ The Spirit blows where He wants, and you<br />
hear His voice, but cannot tell where He comes from and where He goes. So<br />
is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3: 5-8)<br />
As Christ explains in this conversation with the somewhat puzzled<br />
Nicodemus, we are all called to be born, not only “of the flesh” at our<br />
natural birth, and not only “of water and Spirit” at baptism. We are called<br />
to be born again,–and again, “of the Spirit.” This oft-repeated process of<br />
renewal and rebirth in the Spirit, however, is not something we control.<br />
Because He comes and goes “where He wants” (ὅπου θέλει), and we<br />
cannot tell “where He comes from and where He goes.”<br />
This freedom of the governing Spirit, and our lack of control of His divine<br />
energies, which do renew and revive our own on a regular basis, is a<br />
refreshing, humbling fact. While it is my job to remain open to His grace,<br />
keeping my “house” clean to the best of my ability, I humbly ask Him to<br />
do the rest, which I cannot do for myself.<br />
Today I gratefully recognize that we do not, and cannot, control Him,<br />
whence He comes, or where He goes. I humbly ask Him, as I start my<br />
day, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your<br />
governing Spirit.” (Ps 50/51: 12)<br />
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