“Start slow and taper off."
- Walt Stack
Some years ago, Kendra and I had an occasion to attend a church service in another state. When it was time for the homily, the priest came to the pulpit and said, in words close to this, "The Holy Spirit has not moved in me regarding today's Scripture reading and so we shall spend this time by sitting in contemplative silence."
And I remember thinking, Really, you can do that…plead an absence of divine guidance and just sit one out? I guess so because we sure did sit in the quiet for ten-minutes. It got me wondering, would that work in other professions? ”Your Honor, I realize it's time for me to make my closing argument to the jury, but the spirit has not moved me to this point" or “Sir, your ruptured appendix needs to come out immediately, but I, the attending surgeon, have not been so moved by the spirit, so I shall bow out” or “I know I need to go in and kick this game-winning field goal, Coach, but honestly, I'm just not feelin' it.”
I don't know. I never tried to pull that off in my working career, never thought of it, actually. But, these days, things might be moving in that direction. Over the last few years, I've talked with many a business owner who laments the difficulty of finding employees that will show up on time or show up at all. It seems like the spirit is moving in fewer and fewer people these days.
Anyway, there are plenty of songs out there dealing with one kind of spirit or another. What others might there be?