For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. Col 2:5 (NIV)
Part 4 – Present in Spirit
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3
Absent in body, present in spirit.
I have a friend that I love dearly. We live in different states, separated by a 12-hour drive. We get to see each other maybe once a year for a cup of tea or a meal. But every time I see her or talk to her over Skype, even text message back and forth, the separation disappears. We can pick up on conversations like we talked yesterday and saw each other at school pick up that afternoon. Absent, but so very present. I miss her, but in some beautiful, mysterious way, she is with me.
My brother lived in Japan for a few years and even though we were bodily separated by countries and oceans, he was still with me. Every time we gathered as a family and he wasn’t bodily present, he was still with us in our hearts and minds.
This is more than just feelings and memories and thoughts. We are all connected to each other on a level not seen by the human eye. If we could peel back our reality, I think we would see beautiful threads connecting us all together. As we live and breathe our movements send little waves down these threads towards others… everything we do impacts the space around us, influencing the space around others.
In what way are you moving these threads of connection around you?
Imagine being part of the early church. The faith had changed, the way people worshipped had changed, who could worship had changed, the point had changed… radically. With this radical change came radical reactions from all different sources. Not to mention how thrilling and terrifying it would have been to start a community of faith that had never been done before in their political and social climate. The resistance would have been huge, and the public backlash would have been personal and widely felt. I can imagine many members of the early church spending many nights in prayer, battling fear and discouragement, fighting worry and stress, daring to keep on moving forward and pave a new way. And then they get a letter from Paul. One of the men who started it all and who they looked up to for direction and encouragement. And he writes to them, “I am with you…”
There may not be a more needed phrase in our world today. “I am with you.” You are not alone. Even though we may not be connected physically, we are present with one another in prayer and in love. In hope and in faith. You are not alone.
United by love, together we discover the mysteries of God, we journey this grand adventure of life uniquely but never alone.
Why don’t you reach out to those in your life who may not be present with you, but you carry in your heart. Let them know they’re not alone. Just as you are not alone.
Matthew writes that Jesus said,
“I’ll be with you, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”
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