Tami’s Meandering Thoughts

“Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 2:38

Some people nicely space their children’s births throughout the year. But not us. Nope – all 3 of our children were born this month. I’m not sure how that happened – we did have the thought that it would be cool if one of our children was born on our anniversary since my birth came on my parent’s anniversary and my mother’s birth occurred on her parents’ anniversary. However, we missed on all 3 counts and now have 3 birthdays to celebrate in June. That’s a lot of cake (by the time you do friend parties, family gatherings and school cupcakes!). That’s also a lot of gifts. This year we have a quandary. Ryan wants a pet.

Miriam owns a bird (given to her when her teacher moved and could not transport her bird), Caleb received a hamster last year for his birthday (he’s my animal-lover and it seemed natural that he should own one). Plus we have numerous cups and bug cages of caterpillars, ants, ladybugs and a newt (added today). However, none of those are specifically Ryan’s. So our journey into another pet began. Now, you have to understand, Tim is NOT an animal lover, and he has made it very clear that dogs and cats are forbidden. So we looked into a bunny – however, with our sporadic schedule it seems cruel to keep an animal that needs daily care (since I cannot promise to remember to feed it every day!). You’ll laugh, but we think we have the answer we like (of course, we’ll find out June 25 if Ryan likes it). A Venus Fly Trap.

You can laugh. I am! This is a plant that eats flies. Seems like the perfect pet! You can feed it, see it respond to the food and learn the responsibility of taking care of it. Of course, there is the downside that it lacks any soft, cuddly, loving responses. Oh well, that may be the tradeoff we will have to have! Every gift we humans give comes with pros and cons. Every human gift, no matter how excited the giver is, becomes treasured only if the receiver appreciates it. However, God freely gives us a gift that, although we don’t appreciate it fully, is exactly what we need. The gift of the Holy Spirit.

After he received this gift, Peter explained that anyone who repents could receive the same gift. As I read that my greedy human nature took over. So, the Holy Spirit is a gift? What kind of gift? Exactly what do I get from this gift? In case you’re wondering, here’s a few of the names of the Holy Spirit to help as we understand this present:

- Spirit of Truth
- Good Spirit
- Counselor
- Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding
- Spirit of Counsel and of Power
- Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord
- Giver of Life
- Comforter
- Convictor of Sin

I am not even going to pretend to understand all of that. However, my response should be – wow, what a gift!! I’ve never received anything like that before. And then, in appreciation for that gift, I need to thank the Giver.