I remember so well how my young son Kurt would follow me with his toy lawnmower as I cut the grass. He was so intent, so careful to make sure he followed me a few feet back, trying as best he could to match each of my steps. Of course, that was impossible for him to match my strides, but that didn’t stop him from trying!

Those memories have always struck me as something significant in my own spiritual walk as I try to do as Paul’s suggests in the last part of his letter to the Galatians: If we live by the Spirit, let us keep step with the Spirit.” (5:25) In other words, what Paul is suggesting is learning to depend upon the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit instead of going it alone.

Is that that Pentecost is all about? Was it God’s attempt to give the Holy Spirit to all people so that they might have a inner guide or helper to keep in step with the salvation and reconciliation God was bringing into his broken world? If so, then it becomes essential that we strive to learn the pace and stride of the Spirit. And that becomes Pentecost Living!