We are in the week before Pentecost, and I feel as excited as I was as a small child at Christmas waiting to open my gifts. I am awaiting this coming of the Holy Spirit with deep longing.
I think sometimes Pentecost and the traditional gifts of the Spirit can seem a little unreal for us. We are told that the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord, which is taken from the words of the prophesy about Jesus in Isaiah 11. It can be a little difficult to relate as we don’t use words like fortitude
and piety much any more in everyday language. The word piety can have negative “holier-than-thou” connotations and “fear of the Lord” is often mistakenly misinterpreted as being afraid of God rather than evoking a sense of awe and reverence.
These gifts are amazing when we understand their meaning: Wisdom – the ability to perceive God in all things and at work in our lives; understanding – a deep capacity to make sense of things in God’s grace; counsel – the ability to choose well; fortitude -courage and resilience in the face of obstacles; knowledge – the capacity to know and love God. Piety – a gift that draws us to
prayer and worship; and Fear of the Lord – the grace to know that we are always in God’s presence as a beloved child. Maybe there is one of these gifts that particularly draws you this year.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not limited to the “official seven.” Any attribute of Jesus or of the Creator can be given to us or deepened in us so that we can more fully reflect God’s love in the world. If you were to create your own gift list what might it be? This year I feel the need for the gift of trust. Of trusting that God is really taking care of me, in the midst of all the
uncertainties of life. I also long to be energized and inspired with passion and enthusiasm – surely a gift of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps you need the gift of renewed hope; maybe there is the longing to love life again; perhaps faith has become fragile and you desire an increase of the gift of faith.
I invite you over the next few days to sit with the Lord and to make a list of the gifts of the Spirit that you most deeply desire. Write them down – maybe put the list on your mirror or in your bible – somewhere that you can see it. Ask that those gifts may be poured out upon you, knowing that God has planted those longings in your heart. The gifts may come and deepen slowly but we can trust
that they will be given when we ask for them. God delights in giving us the gifts of the Spirit so that we can become more fully the unique person we are created to be.
