Hover over me

Have you ever watched a bird hover? It is an extraordinary combination of stillness and movement, rest and attention. In “Living for Eternity”, I thought about how wonderfully the Spirit of God tenderly hovers over our chaos to make a new creation. Here are those thoughts again with a few additions!

In the beginning, the Spirit hovered.

High over the darkness, far above the chaos, tender above the deep, steady in the waiting, as attentive as a new mother who cannot bear to leave her child, like a bird hovering over its young. And out of chaos came creation.

In the beginning, the Spirit hovered.

How long was it until God spoke into the darkness and light cascaded? He said “Let there be!” and there was. From nothingness came craggy cliffs for us to climb, honeysuckle scent and thunderous surf. From emptiness came a star-strewn sky, molten rock, a dewdrop rainbow on a fragile blade of grass and the unique whirls of your fingerprint.

Did God’s creativity stop there? Creator describes who God is. God will never stop creating. God’s Spirit is still looking for open hearts, waiting to hover over our chaos and bring a new creation. That truth has been precious for me as I have known God tenderly hover over the chaos of grief and bring a new creation in our lives. It is part of the great Christian story that the Holy Spirit creates beauty and order and hope out of the chaos of emptiness and guilt and loss.

When we pray that ancient prayer, "Come, Holy Spirit", we invite the Holy Spirit to create our lives anew.

Holy Spirit, hover over us.

And then, astonishingly, God calls us to be creators in his image, partnering with him in bringing a new creation in the lives of others and in our chaotic world. That new creation won’t be established and free of sin and pain until Christ comes again in all his glory but meanwhile God constantly invites us to be part of his creative work. I don’t understand why God gets us involved when we have a track record of being creation-wreckers but God keeps putting faith in us.

I count it as one of the greatest blessings of my life when I get to play a little part in that new creation. This week, I met someone whose son had tragically committed suicide who said that he had found God in his grief and guilt after reading “Living for Eternity.” How might God be calling you to play your part in his joy in bringing a new creation? You may not write a book but you might send a text or make a phone call or give a gift or pray a prayer or stand for justice or break a pattern of addiction or something else completely different - ask God and he will show you because he loves to reverse destruction and bring life.

When our courage fails or our hearts break because we see our screens full of scenes of a world on fire, of war and of chaos or because we face personal chaos, we can remember that we are made in God’s image to be creators, and ask him to help us to play our part in a new creation today.

The wings of the dove of peace stretch wide across the universe and nothing is too hard for our Creator God.

Holy Spirit, hover over us.