I’ve just welcomed my second granddaughter into the world, an event which could be summed up in the phrase ‘She’s here!’ After many long hours of labour, the news that she had safely arrived was a great blessing to me. Her arrival inevitably and irrevocably changes our lives and we are glad to be able to adapt and learn to live with her presence because she belongs to us in a very special way.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit’s arrival on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13) irrevocably changed the disciples’ lives and His presence with us and in us provides the fuel for our Christian living (John 14:17, 1 Cor 6:19). His dramatic arrival – with the sound like a rushing wind and what seemed like tongues of fire resting on people’s heads (Acts 2:2-3) – on the Day of Pentecost (a festival celebrating the first harvest as well as being associated with the renewal of God’s covenant with Noah and Moses and the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai) can be said to be the birthday of the church – a time when the disciples stopped being simply a group of followers of Jesus and became, as He had prophesied, His witnesses to the entire world. (Acts 1:8)

The Holy Spirit had previously ‘rested’ on people (e.g. on Saul, 1 Sam 10:10; on leaders in Israel, Num 11:25). Jesus had even breathed on His disciples to receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22), but the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost signified a new era, one which continues to this day.

Our everyday lives need to acknowledge and reflect the fact that the Holy Spirit is now here! Just as I can’t ignore my granddaughter’s arrival, but have to change how I live to take her into account, so we need to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us on a daily basis and change how we live, growing His fruit (character) in our lives. (Eph 5:18, Gal 5:22-23) He is God and we must seek not to grieve Him (Eph 4:30) or quench Him (1 Thess 5:19). Instead, we need to learn to walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16) and witness to Jesus through the words He gives (Luke 11:11-12).

One of the first words my older granddaughter learned (way before giving me a name) was ‘more!’ Coupled with ‘again!’, these are key words in a toddler’s vocabulary. She is gradually learning the value of manners (‘more, please!‘), but this desire for repetition (often to the point of mind-numbing boredom on the adult’s part – how many ‘Wheels on the Bus‘ videos can there be?!) is a key factor in the the child’s learning armoury. The endless repetition of games and puzzles (she will complete a puzzle and instantly pull it to pieces and do it again or want to read a favourite page of a book over and over again) is the way children learn skills and meanings.

Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible, is so called because it means ‘second law’. In it, Moses ‘proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.’ (Deut 1:3) East of the Jordan, he began to expound (explain, set forth) the law. (Deut 1:5)

We may feel, as we’ve ploughed through the giving of the law in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers that we don’t need a ‘second law’, that the familiarity of some of this is boring, that we want to move swiftly on to the action of the battles in Jericho. As adults, we tend to avoid repetition, flitting like butterflies from one thing to another as ‘proof’ of our development.

Psychologists tell us, however, that habits are formed through continuous repetition; few skills are automatic or instinctive, but must be learned. God, in His wisdom, gives us a second chance to absorb the law in the book of Deuteronomy. It behoves us to pause and digest it, noticing fresh aspects, new nuances, different facets, rather than rushing ahead of ourselves.

A teacher knows that learning involves setting forth a new truth, giving pupils the time to work on this independently to check understanding and then recapping what has been covered to reinforce its truth. Deuteronomy is the ‘recapping’, the summary (albeit a long one!), the driving home of all we’ve absorbed so far. As such, it’s a vital part of our understanding and spiritual growth.

Stephen spoke tonight about the character of the Holy Spirit and how He is the only way we can be successful in our Christian lives. So often, we try to live in our own strength. We may be physically strong or mentally dexterous; we may have many skills and talents, but ultimately, we cannot achieve spiritual goals unless we depend on God’s power through His Spirit.

Often, we hold back from taking on a role in the church or in life because we feel incompetent or inadequate to fulfil this task, but that is to fail to realise how God uses the vulnerable, weak and foolish to achieve His aims. 1 Cor 1:25 reminds us that the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness o God is stronger than human strength. We may hold back because we feel exposed or just stupid doing what God has said, but we need to realise that the Holy Spirit is available to help all of us. He makes the immeasurable difference to our lives, inspiring us and changing us.

Paul told the Corinthians that he often felt weak and fearful, but operated in the power of the Holy Spirit, accessing His strength, wisdom and knowledge. (1 Cor 2:1-5). The call is to be like Paul, not necessarily in what we do but in how we live our lives – being dependent on God’s Holy Spirit, who helps us (1 Cor 2:13-16).

God has always used the most unlikely of people to do His work; He specialises in ‘unlikely lads’, so to speak! The challenge is for us to use what God has given us, to do it, to live it… in and through Christ, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit as we live.

Today is Mothers’ Day in the UK and Dave spoke this morning on the question ‘What is a mother?’ As a man, he said this was a thorny question to tackle; the dictionary definition (a woman who has given birth to a child) not encompassing the way a woman can be like a mother to people even if she has not had children herself. A mother is someone who shows unconditional love for her child, who understands all about sacrifice and patience and hard work and who does not necessarily get the recognition or respect she deserves. Motherhood is all-embracing and exhausting, from the long hours of labour to the years of devotion freely offered. In the early years, it’s easy for a mother to lose her sense of identity, but most would say it is worth the helplessness, tiredness and sense of hopelessness that can often punctuate the crises of the job!

In Isaiah 49;15, we see that God describes Himself as a mother. Just as a mother cannot forget the baby at her breast, so God cannot forget us. We can be just as noisy, demanding, rebellious, energetic, curious and frustrating to Him as to our own mothers, but He loves us unconditionally. His love can be measured in the fact that He sacrificed His own Son for us. We often think of God as ‘our Father’, but He is also a mother to us and His tenderness, compassion and understanding can form the bedrock of our lives.

“Daddy fix it!” is the confident assertion of my granddaughter when her pop-up picture book needs sellotape to keep the pictures popping up or when her train engine needs a new battery to help it to run smoothly on the track again. She has confidence that her father will solve the problems which are too great for her.

So often as we grow older, we try to fix life ourselves, finding many situations that are beyond our ability to fix. We like to be competent and confident in our own abilities; we like very much to be in control, but the truth is that life often is beyond our control, competence and skills. We still need someone to rescue us, to fix things. We have a heavenly Father whose love and tenderness towards us are unwavering and whose ability to fix things is far beyond ours. Maybe we need the child-like confidence that Daddy can fix it instead of trying to carry the weight of the world’s burdens on our fragile shoulders.

Matt 11:28-30 reminds us that when we’re worn out from trying to fix life ourselves, we can come to God and learn from Jesus, exchanging our burdens for His. He is able to give us rest, to carry us close to His heart and to ‘fix it.’ May we develop childlike confidence in His goodness and power and let Him do the fixing.