Jesus came straight from being baptized, hearing from his father, seeing into heaven, recieving the Holy Spirit. The Trinity all in one place.
Full of the Holy Spirit and ready to start his ministry. I would have thought. But the Holy Spirit to whom even Jesus listened, led him into the desert.
Does my dry spell come after my previous dry spell as I often think? Is it life that dries me up or the Spirit leading me to each dry spell? How do I live abundantly in my Spirit led, dry spell?
After 40 days, Jesus was hungry. I believe that the Spirit remained with him throughout the 40 days. And he was hungry physically, about to face 3 temptations.
It's my birthday today. And I made a fabulous three layered, gluten free, German Chocolate cake with Coconut-Pecan frosting. From scratch. Took me hours. Looks like the leaning tower of Sugar. And I'm on Weight Watchers. So I'm hungry. Put cake in front of me when I'm hungry. Temptation.
Only I gave myself permission to eat it before I bought the ingredients.
I imagine Jesus was lonely, hot, tired, and hungry. He went in full of the Spirit. The Spirit never left him. He came out tested and triumphant.
What if he had started ministry with the filling but not the tempting? What if he had skipped the tempting and went straight to ministry? Would he have known that having the Spirit is enough, especially in the desert? I can know something in my head, but until I've lived it, it isn't apart of me in my heart. It's that part of being human that Jesus and I have in common.
The power of the Spirit works for Jesus. It works for me.
I'm in a Spirit led dry spell of parenting. Tempted to parent poorly. Praying for patience, wisdom, and creativity. Spirit filled before, with the Spirit during, and eventually I will emerge from the desert.
But today, I'm eating my cake!
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