Lord Jesus Christ,
Fill me with thy Spirit
….that I may be occupied with his presence.
********
I have a cute kid on my elementary route that seems to be very bright. He is interested in tons of stuff and on at least a third-grade level knows a lot about those things. The challenge is that he is ADHD. The acronym stands for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and it is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors (may act without thinking about what the result will be), or be overly active. This CDC description fits him to a T!
He got in trouble a while back for not thinking about what the result would be of an action and now he’s in a front seat where I can keep an eye on him. Really, he’s a good kid, he just needs help doing good things and avoiding not-so-good things.
There are a couple of other kids that interact well with him. Also, he likes to read and play with his Legos. Basically, he does well if he is occupied – especially if that occupation is contained to the seat he is in. If he’s kept busy and his mind is actively focused, for the most part, he does just fine for me.
The opening lines are a portion of another prayer (The Spirit of Jesus) from the Valley of Vision. It grabbed my attention in that I read it two different ways and both ways are applicable. My brain was drawn to a second meaning of the word occupied, though I don’t think the author meant it to be taken that way. Let me explain.
I think the author was communicating the idea that his desire was that the Spirit take up residence in his life and that He would use him in doing so.
The way I took it when I first read it, was that the Spirit would keep me busy and active in His ways. I may deal with a certain amount of spiritual ADHD. In certain areas, I have trouble paying attention to what He wants me to do. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have acted without thinking and then suffered the consequences of my actions.
I’ve spoken of it in recent writings, but I’ve struggled in this area and feel that setting up new habits of reading multiple spiritually-based materials and a time of quiet meditation under the Spirit’s direction have been helpful. I have halted early-morning distractions, that in and of themselves weren’t bad, but needed to be curbed and controlled. I needed to become occupied more with the things of God’s Kingdom and less with the frivolous things of this world.
The Spirit is patient and kind and I have benefited greatly under His tutelage. May I be occupied with His presence in line with both definitions! Amen!
In the same way the Spirit [comes to us and] helps us in our weakness. We do not know what prayer to offer or how to offer it as we should, but the Spirit Himself [knows our need and at the right time] intercedes on our behalf with sighs and groanings too deep for words. And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes [before God] on behalf of God’s people in accordance with God’s will.
And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose. Romans 8:26-28 AMP
Jan 18th, 2023, Wed, 7:17 pm
