I have been blessed with countless moments of pure joy. Joy needing nothing to be complete. Joy despite all the travails and injustices of humanity – of Life. One of those moments came on a woodland hike with a dear friend over a decade ago. I described what I felt this way: “I love how I feel when I am with you.”
As I yearned for such moments before that summary came to me, I have yearned for such moments since. I think we all do: it’s the joy of being completely alive and free.
Grace gives us unexpected, even transporting “I love how I feel” moments like the one I had with my friend. (The “when I am with you” circumstance is wonderful, but not necessary.) But I have sought actively to cultivate such moments.
Randomly – or providentially – I recently found and read a copy of a chapter of Thomas Kelly’s 1941 classic A Testament of Devotion entitled “The Eternal Now and Social Concern.” Reminded there of the "possibility of this experience of the Divine Presence," I realize that I can have “I love how I feel” moments whenever I have the presence of mind to connect as best I can with the Holy Spirit within.