Dependence

May 13, 1979
6:25 AM

The cat meows for food… and also needs help in getting out of the closed house. Once out she is less dependent, but in here she must wait upon me. The chicks need water, food, and heat; all they can do is develop.

Life in the Spirit is analogous. Each is a parable of the other. When I am young in the Spirit I need spiritual food, the communion elements, if you will, and I need the warmth of the Holy Spirit. With these I can develop… but not to an independence but a comfortable interdependence, accepting the need for everlasting dependence upon that Spirit that gives forth light, strength, and love.

The Spirit leads me into new adventures. Of myself I might remain with the comfortable walls of familiarity (though I know this is not what should be). But the Spirit bids me go. With the food I have received I am nourished to roam and be who I am. But I must also return for sustenance.

Dependence is. It is a part of growing, a part of becoming. And since, in the Spirit, this is ever how it is, we never outgrow the need for dependence. It simply becomes more and more comfortable. Within these everlasting arms there is freedom. Hallelujah! (a strange interjection, which I was free to leave out, but which seemed important to include.)

Baby creatures grow, but not all at the same rate. Some take more immediate advantage of their dependence, using what is provided to develop more fully. As spiritual beings some of us “are at the trough first”, while others, exercising their independence, hold back and grow more slowly.

The Spirit is in this world (and all others, I suppose) to GIVE… that we might become. Dependence on the Spirit brings strength… in greater amounts than independence of being. To be dependent in the Spirit is not to be weak. It is to be in partnership. And, from this, comes strength.

Amen… and Amen
7:05 AM

(This is the third missive penned by Bob Russell after he “cut his deal” with God that he would dedicate the first hour of his day to a “writing meditation” for the next 30 days.
This missive was penned and written only by Bob Russell)