Read John 16:1-15

Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you.  John 16:7

  I sat down with my five-year-old twin granddaughters at an empty table in the market, Meara beside me and Colleen across the table.  Sampling her ice cream bar, Colleen said, rather indignantly, “Well, here I am all alone over here!”  She took another bite, then her eyes lit up and she said, “Oh, I’m not alone, am I?  Jesus is with me.”

  “Can you see the wind?”  I began to explain.  “No, only that the tree branches are moving.  Can you see the person who is speaking on the radio?  No.  But I can turn it on and hear the person.  Linda can turn it on way down in her town, Gwen in her town, and we all hear the person at the same time.  Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us when he went back to heaven, and all of us can tune him in by prayer.”

  The girls looked pensive for a minute.  Then smiles spread over their ice cream-smeared faces.

  Christ’s Spirit remains within us forever.

  Stay tuned to the Holy Spirit.

                                                                                                    Norma Howard Smith