Holy Spirit: I have a question for you.
Joshua: Okay.
Holy Spirit: Do you know?
Joshua: …Know what? That’s such an unhelpful question it’s kinda rude.
Do I know how to juggle? Do I know what your favorite ice cream is? Obviously it’s my favorite, cuz I have good taste! What? What do I know?
Holy Spirit: Do you know?
Joshua: Holy Spirit, that’s not a question, that’s the start of a question!
Holy Spirit: No, it’s a complete sentence.
Joshua: It may be a complete sentence, but it’s an incomplete thought! What is it that you’re trying to get to?
(the Holy Spirit pauses for a long time, and I get the impression won’t answer)
Do I know? Um… YES! Absolutely! Totally! Yeah, I know. I definitely do. So let’s… talk about this thing I know.
Holy Spirit: (shakes head) I didn’t ask “do you know about a thing?” but just “do you know?”
Joshua: Well… yes!
Holy Spirit: How do you know you know?
Joshua: That’s not fair! I’m just trying to pick a path so we can move forward here! I’m tired, and I’ve got tasty coffee, and I wanna nap, and…
…Okay, sorry, I’m being rude. I just… don’t wanna sit on an unclear question. You do this with me a lot.
Holy Spirit: Why do you want to escape from the unclear question?
Joshua: Because I’m afraid it’ll take too much time and I’ll be tired and grouchy tomorrow! I was shocked how tired I was today! Even though, like… I didn’t get much sleep… went through a ton of healing with you… and hosted and made meals throughout most of the weekend.
Holy Spirit: Not most of it—the entire weekend. On top of volunteering. In multiple capacities.
Joshua: You know what, I should be able to handle it all!
Why don’t you just give me a supernatural energy to do whatever-the-heck? I mean… coffee isn’t as good as you! You’re like… I mean… well… the creator of everything and have energy and all that.
I want to be energetic!
Holy Spirit: What did you do on your sabbath?
Joshua: …Well, I hosted. I was pretty busy. Even though it was really good.
Holy Spirit: (nods) You’re not tired out of being weak, but out of using strength. That’s a big difference.
You often mistake used strength for presence of weakness. I don’t see them the same.
Joshua: …Isn’t weak just “you don’t have the strength”?
Holy Spirit: (shakes head) Weak is “your baseline doesn’t have the strength”. Your baseline is solid. You’ve just pushed. You have to recharge now. Otherwise, you’ll be drained.
Joshua: Well… why do I need to do that? Why don’t you just supercharge your believers—
Holy Spirit: (gets right in my face. Clears throat and stares at me) Right now, if I were to supercharge you, you would use that energy to continue dancing around our conversation. Sometimes, tiring you out is the only way I get an edgewise word in. I know you. You talk best tired. I don’t want you tired all the time. But I know how to get you to be honest.
Joshua: …That’s fair. I’d just do what I’m doing… but faster.
Holy Spirit: (nods) So tell me… (spreads out arms) Would what-you’re-doing-but-faster be anything worthwhile?
Joshua: …No. Cuz I’d keep dancing around you, instead of, like… you know… engaging. But I don’t wanna engage! I wanna rest and watch TV!
Holy Spirit: (smiling, gets even more in my face) You don’t want to engage with the creator of the universe?
Joshua: …I don’t wanna say “no”. But I also do, cuz I’m curious how you’ll react. Will you get mad? Will you laugh?
Holy Spirit: (tilts head) You do realize that I am much better at teasing than you are. I can out-tease you. I know you. If you didn’t want to do this, you would’ve disengaged. You’re not disengaging. You’re dancing. You’re playing with me. I would much rather someone laugh in prayer than be solemn at a screen.
Joshua: …So… what was it you were wanting to check in on? You know… the “do you know” thing?
Holy Spirit: (smiles) Do you?
Joshua: No! And I’m… weirded out by the question. I get your ways are higher than my ways and stuff, but I still like it when you make sense! But come to think of it… you almost never do to me anyway, so like… that’s kinda silly. What I just said makes no sense.
Wait, do I make less sense than you?
Holy Spirit: (nods)
Joshua: That’s not fair!
Holy Spirit: (tilts head) I don’t think comparing yourself to the king of the universe is particularly fair as it is. What is “fair” between you and me? Did I concern myself with “fair” when it came to paying for your infirmity?
Joshua: …No. Thank you for being unfair.
Holy Spirit: (nods) And—(holds up finger) you need to understand something. You decided pretending to know was better than acknowledging you knew too little to understand the question. You could’ve said “no”, and that would’ve been just fine. Not understanding doesn’t mean you’re bad—it means you don’t understand. And if my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts, do you really think I get offended every time my way and thought is higher than your own? No. It doesn’t shock me. It doesn’t bug me. If you disagree with me, if you argue with me, it can become rather funny, but I don’t get upset when you don’t know what I know.
I’m not looking at you going “why aren’t their ways as high as mine?” I instead show you my ways. I’m not looking at you going “why aren’t their thoughts as high as mine?” I instead share with you my thoughts. Acknowledge where you don’t know, and I can teach. Humility is key. I will never be offended at an answer to any question of mine of “I don’t know”. The one who pretends that he does will rapidly move into either pride or delusion, and I must break both.
Joshua: …Does that mean you have to break my pride and/or delusion, since I pretended I knew?
Holy Spirit: (shakes head) I went with that example so it was low stakes.
But now it is time for the real question…