As I fix a light breakfast before going to work, I hear a lone bird outside the kitchen window: cooing. Groaning repeatedly. Insistently. Pausing for breath and then continuing . . . and I say to myself: ‘that sounds like a dove’. (What’s the difference between a dove and a pigeon, anyway?) For my purposes, in this case I’d prefer to think it’s a dove out there.
As I hear it ‘groaning’ I think of the words of St. Paul:
“So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will. [Ps. 139:1, 2]”
Rom. 8:26-27
Amplified Bible
(Interrupted to go to work.)
Dearest Lord,
You who are closer to me than marrow and bone: You who have become one with my psyche – are part of my very existence, my being alive: it is not strange to hear that Your Spirit groans out my yearnings and heartaches on my behalf, because there are no words for them. They are “too deep for utterance”.
Maybe that’s why when I unburden myself to You I usually have a sense of release, of peace. I don’t think it is by chance that the dove is the Symbol of Peace and of the Holy Spirit. They say that these birds only hover around and frequent places that are peaceful. They like to alight on rooftops – usually homes. If there is discord, they leave. If there is harmony, they may come and go, but make their homes there.
But back to your groanings on my behalf, dear Holy Spirit. When I groan on my own behalf, it is usually born of deep inward pain or longing. Because You are a part of me You must feel it and know it as Your own pain and longing. So You are – as ‘country people’ would say – the ‘fittenis’ (‘fittingest’/most fitting) One to speak my unspoken or inexplicable burdens and wishes and hopes – and I mustn’t forget my feelings of love and joy and adoration and gratitude to God.
That’s all well and good, Lord, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could so feel for others: so empathize with them that I groan over their burdens and concerns and hopes and rejoice and praise You on their behalf to the same extent that I do for myself? Your Word says I should love my neighbour as myself.
I need to ask You to polish me in this area, Lord. I do show love for neighbour, but not to the extent that I show love for self – and this is the second greatest commandment. I don’t intercede enough. I hear of people offering sustained prayers for others for years. I’m no good at that. I pray off and on for people. Perhaps my love and concern are not strong enough.
I seem to hear You saying that the ability to do that is one of the spiritual gifts. Is that so, Lord? Or is it just that I need to be less self-involved and think more of others? Whether of not it is a spiritual gift I do need to feel more of a part of the lives of others. Then, I strongly suspect, the praying will take care of itself, because it will be born of heartfelt concern for their welfare.
And as the birds continue to coo gently at my window, dear Holy Spirit, may I be gently reminded by them of Your heartfelt, insistent and powerful communicating for me, and of my need to do the same for others – all within the will of God.
Amen.
