More air

Today I went to a bicycle store to check why my bicycle rides had become a little challenge, so stiff - it felt like riding a little tank, not a dutch bike anymore. Easy solution: Simply more air was needed for my tire. With more air between me and the road, the ride home felt almost like flying through an autumn fairytale land.

While riding home underneath colorful chestnut and linden trees, I was grateful for another spiritual lesson I was learning here: There must be something between us and the world - the harsh "realities" of daily life, the interactions with our fellow women and men, something like a mental buffer.

In Bible speak this absolute necessary buffer is an armour of spiritual qualities such as truth, righteousness, faith (see Ephesians 6: 11-18) --- these qualities are like air filled into the tires of our life, cushioning the shock of personal clashes, unexpected reactions, unforeseen obstacles and challenges. These qualities are shades of the Christ. When speaking to people who have not grown up with Christianity, I have sometimes to find different and new words - which really help me to grow, too. What I say then is, that the Christ is the way God, Life, communicates with us. There is only one Life, one God, and the Christ is a name for the way this Life expresses itself in its own universe. Jesus showed us what divine good is about, he embodied this power and he showed that it is everywhere and in everyone. It is continuous, it was there before Jesus was born and continues to exist. It is pure goodness in action. It is the invisible, yet very tangible power that links people and makes relationships work, harmonizes lives, empowers the weak, comforts the mourning, heals the suffering, conveys peace and supports grace under pressure.

The presence of the Christ was what I thought about, when driving home on my new/old bike. I can let more of this wonderful goodness in and rely on its beneficial empowerment in my day. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk said: God is only where you let him in. Yes, that is how this works.

The day unfolded in unforeseen beautiful ways and I could feel the difference of "more air" in the tires, and "more Christ" in my day. In an interesting twist I remembered, too, that "pneuma" is Greek (you know the word from pneumatics) for wind (or air), but also for Spirit.

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