3^rd Week after Pentecost:

We ourselves… groan.

(Romans 8:23)

Our family time at the beach ended with some strange inexplicable groaning. It had to do with our older grandchildren, one after another, holding me close with groans and tears. The only words we could come up with was “I love you.” Since this blog is for my children and my children’s children (Maybe others look on from time to time.); I would like to see if there might be some meaning to this unexpected event. Or, at least, to muse about what happened?

I’m guessing they couldn’t help but notice that their Papa had lost some vitality since the last time we were together—that, as the eighth chapter of Romans puts it, the mortality of our “mortal bodies” was having its way. If that’s the case, they do well to groan: “We groan inwardly while we wait for the redemption of our bodies.” Between now and then, “the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.” That’s the Spirit of Pentecost that holds us close to Jesus and to one another until That Day when “this mortal body puts on immortality” (1Cor 15:54).