Believe It or What?
He doesn’t have to prove anything to me. The Holy Spirit, that is. I’ve
always known He’s there, from childhood on, even if I ignored Him for
many years. But like others growing older, I thank Him now and then just
for being there. I think it helps to pay one’s dues as early as
possible.
The
other night, however, an odd thing happened. I couldn’t get to sleep
and usually I’m asleep once my head’s on the pillow. I kept changing
positions but nothing seemed to work. I was wide awake. And then my arms
began to tremble, first one arm, then the other. Alarming, let me tell
you.
I
tried everything to make the trembling stop: rolling over, trying new
positions, shaking my arms. I didn’t want to disturb my wife who
was watching a Turner Classic Movie because I had no idea what I'd ask
her to do since nothing like this had ever happened to either of us
before. I never read about the problem, either, in the many medical
bulletins we receive. I like to know in advance what might kill me.
Twenty
minutes later, my arms were still trembling, more, not less. I was
another Lawrence Welk, recumbent though I was, and I was growing a tad
frantic. Is this how Parkinson’s says hello, I wondered.
Then
I remembered my faith says that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of
the Trinity, lives in me and other members of His church, which is
something I accept but feel unworthy of in light of past performance,
if you will. And it’s certainly not something I brag about to atheists
or agnostics or folks for whom the Trinity is not an article of faith.
I know I’m supposed to proselytize
but even if I did it as much as some others do, I don’t think I would
begin by telling folks the Holy Spirit lives in me. There are other ways
to introduce Him and let Him take it from there.
The
interesting thing is that although I’ve asked Him in the past to help
others going through trials I don’t recall ever asking Him for a
personal favor, so to speak. Perhaps it’s because I’ve lived a long life
with ups and downs and never really thought to call on Him during the
downs or until lately to thank Him for the ups.
I’ve called on Jesus at times during the downs. That’s pretty normal for a Christian. But not the Holy Spirit or God the Father.
This
time, however, with my arms inexplicably trembling just short of
violently, I decided to ask the Holy Spirit to stop them. It wasn’t a
prayer. I just asked Him silently. I still didn’t want to disturb my
wife who takes old movies seriously.
You
probably know what happened next or I wouldn’t be telling you all this.
In a minute, no more than two, after I had asked the Holy Spirit to
stop the trembling, my arms stopped. Not one more tremble. I had given
the baton back to Lawrence Welk and he had the band playing a favorite
of mine from my youth called “In Heaven They Have No Beer, That’s Why We
Drink It Here.”
Seriously,
though, either the Holy Spirit stopped the trembling or something
mental or physical kicked in at that moment and the trembling stopped.
I’m
not too big on miracles once you get beyond the ones in the Bible. I
have no problem with Jesus turning the water into wine at Cana or His
multiplication of the loaves and fishes or
any of the other miracles performed by Jesus and the apostles as
explained in Scripture. But the miracles performed by healers on TV, I’m
not too big on those. Pin me down and I’d say they don’t pass the smell
test. My smell test. But ask me again and I’d say God can do whatever
He wants through anyone he pleases.
As Pope Francis said on the plane, “Who am I to judge?"
All
I know right now is that my arms stopped trembling as soon as I asked
the Holy Spirit for the biggest favor of my life. I had a good night’s
sleep and my arms have not started trembling again.
I
already have an appointment set up with my internist and I will tell
him exactly what happened. I’ll tell him everything that I’ve told you
here. And if he prescribes electroshock treatments for me, I’ll find a
new doctor. He can believe it or what?
Donal Mahoney
————————————————————————
Nominated
for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes, Donal Mahoney has had poetry
and fiction published in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Some of
his work can be found at http://eyeonlifemag.com/
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