Insight and Inspirations
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)
The Spirit of God has made me;
the breath of the Almighty gives me life (Job 33:4)
Insight: the capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing.
Inspiration: 1.the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative 2. the drawing in of breath; inhalation.
One morning as I sat pondering God’s Word, the word ‘insight’ was highlighted for me. “Insight, looking inward, well, that’s prayer isn’t it?” I thought. And I spent time reflecting on what an insightful (pun intended) definition of prayer this was. I then thought about all the beautiful people I have walked in faith with who have struggled to hear God’s voice or recognize His work in their lives and I was given another insight (again, pun intended)! Good ideas, every good idea (emphasis here on good) comes from God. Every insight we have that reveals a truth comes from God. This is a call to humility and it can be hard. We want to believe that we create our good ideas, our insightful insights. In a way we do. God is the source of goodness, truth, and beauty. We are created in God’s image. We are also adopted sons and daughters of God. Our insights, our created beauty, are therefore a sign of our cooperation with the Holy Spirit, with God Himself. When I looked up the definition (per Webster) of these words they gave me two beautiful definitions of how the Holy Spirit works within us. Here is why humility is a gift: when we acknowledge the creator as the source of our good ideas, inspirations, and creations, we begin to see the depth of His interconnectedness with us. I can look at any given day and see God working in me and that changes everything. It doesn’t diminish me, but it does highlight Him. As I have been holding and pondering this in my heart these past weeks, Holy Spirit put the dot at the end of the sentence so to speak with this morning’s readings.
In Wisdom, is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly, Firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing,
And pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle. For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion, and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity. For she is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nought that is sullied enters into her.
For she is the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God,
the image of his goodness. And she, who is one, can do all things,
and renews everything while herself perduring;
And passing into holy souls from age to age,
she produces friends of God and prophets (Wisdom 7)
So many have difficulty recognizing and discerning God in their prayer, in their circumstances, in their lives. The Holy Spirit, dwelling within us is our advocate leading us to all truth, leading us to God. The only problem is, so many of us don’t know how to recognize Holy Spirit. As I read the above reading (Wisdom is often considered another name of the Holy Spirit) I was given the final insight for this reflection. Words popped out at me: unique, certain, intelligent, firm, tranquil. These are some of my cardinal signs that Wisdom is indeed within me and hard at work. So I challenge each of you that reads this to spend time this week taking on the mantle of humility and seeing how your perspective changes when you credit your good inspirations and insights to God. Then start to look for which cardinal signs of Wisdom seem to show up again and again. When we do this, we start to live the reality that we are truly never without the saving grace of God. Amen.
