Attracting the Dove – Just Be!

The sun was barely peaking over the eastern horizon as sipped my coffee in backyard. “It just doesn’t get better than this,” I thought to myself as I opened the Gospel of Mark. Enjoying the coolness of the morning I mediated on the baptism story of Jesus –focusing particularly on when Jesus emerged out of the water and He “saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove…” (Mark 1:10). As I imagined this scene I glanced up and spotted some birds on the housetop next door. This sparked the thought of how cool it would be to see a dove!

Just then I heard cooing nearby, as I turned and looked, there on the peak of my neighbor’s roof was a mourning dove. I got so excited! I ran into the house and into the bedroom, scared Patty who was still in bed, and grabbed my phone for a picture. “Ah…this will be more than perfect for a blog post,” I thought to myself as I rushed out the patio door to capture the moment-but alas the dove had disappeared.

My spiritual high became a low quickly.   As I explained the scene to Patty, she sympathetically stated, “Maybe you were supposed to sit and just be.” Don’t you love it when God speaks to you through someone else? Too often I miss out on the work of the Holy Spirit because I’m rushing around, striving to capture something when the Father wants me to Just Be in His Presence and soak in His love as Jesus did at His baptism.

The Spirit wanted to underline this lesson for me as I read a few minutes later in the devotional Come Away My Beloved:

O My child, I have waited long for your coming. My eyes have grown weary with watching, and My heart heavy with longing for you. For I have said, “Rest in Me,” but you have striven, I have said, “Stand still,” but you have continued to run. I have called but you have been listening to human voices. Turn to Me. You do not need to do more. For you will find your quest ended…My child, I have need of nothing. I desire only your love…Abandon to Me your whole being…For when your life is wholly lost in My life, there is never anything but gain…So come first to Me. Yes, come until the stream of your life is swallowed up in the ocean of my fullness (p. 102-103).

I heard the Spirit loud and clear that morning, Just Be! How He is teaching me and creating in me a longing for the “stream of my life” to be “swallowed up in the ocean of His fullness” given to those “remain in His love,” (John. 15:1-17).

And would you believe that the next morning, as I once again basked in the vibrant Colorado sunrise, drank my coffee, and read from the book of Mark. Two doves came to visit and I didn’t run to get my phone!