Speak to These Dry Bones

It's that time of year again -- Write! Canada.  Today I was back in Guelph for the Christian Writer's Conference.  After dinner, we trickled out of the dining hall and headed to the chapel.  Our keynote speaker was Mark Buchanan.  Mark drew us in with this story:  a young girl struggled in school.  The teachers thought she was sick (these were the years before the term ADHD).  Her mother took her to the doctor. The girl waited in another room.  When the mother and the doctor emerged, the girl was dancing beautifully to music.  The doctor said:  "She's not sick, she's a dancer."  The young girl trained as a dancer.  

Years later she met Andrew Lloyd Webber.  She choreographed a little production called "Cats".  And the rest is history.  The young girl was not sick, she was a dancer.  

Mark turned to us and said:  "You're not sick, you're a writer."  He went on to say that people who are possessed by the Holy Spirit sometimes look drunk.  But they aren't drunk, they're full of the Holy Spirit.  He said that just as the more alcohol we drink, the more it slows down all of our senses:  sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell.  Eventually, with too much alcohol, the lights go out in our head.  However, the more we fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit, the more heightened our senses, and the more the lights go on.  

"Speak to these dry bones" God tells Ezekiel.  We need to let the Holy Spirit breathe life into us, to make us new. Our five senses will enhance our creativity.  We need to be attentive listeners (Give me ears to hear, Jesus).  We need to be vigilant watchers (Fix our eyes on Jesus).  We need to inhale deeply (The breath of God is in my nostrils).  We need to be discriminate tasters (Oh taste and see that the Lord is good).  We need to be aware of the power of touch (Behold, this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away). We need to look to the Greatest Creator of all for our inspiration.