My mother used to say, “I have more to tell you, but not yet.” And I would wonder what she meant because, after all, I thought I was capable of understanding whatever she had to say. I didn’t respect the breadth of her experience. She was not a certified authority or, I thought, a particularly wise counselor.
I didn’t think much of my mother then. She was “just” a housewife with no title or paycheck, even though she had a college education and good mind. I respected my dad’s opinions more because he had standing in the wider community. Such was my arrogance as a teen.
Over the years, her “not yet” began to unspool. The particulars would now make a book of slow revelations, offered quietly. She listened well, paid attention to timing, and got sober after 30 years of drinking when my father died. She lived 15 more years to the age of 91 – long enough for me to realize her practical wisdom and glimpse the depth of her soul.
Pentecost, which we celebrate this week, is often associated with speaking in tongues (Acts 2), but in John’s Gospel, the promised Spirit is more about wisdom and discernment, about unfolding truth and the prospect of spiritual growth.* In John 16, Jesus promises his frightened disciples an Advocate, a Counselor, a Spirit of Truth who will continue to teach them how to live in this world. “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now,” he says.
It sounds like a wise Elder to me: “I have more to say, but not yet.”
As we watch the news and face the harsh realities of systemic racism and climate change in our world today, let us pray for the renewal of that kind of Pentecost, so we can bear the truth of our time and place – because that’s what will empower us to act.
–Marjory Zoet Bankson, Editor of InwardOutward.org
For Reflection…
- Who were the “wise elders” in your life? How have they encouraged you?
- When have you stumbled onto a truth that was hidden from you at an earlier age?
- Where are you needing the renewal of Pentecost?
