Sighs Too Deep for Words...

Published by Ronald Steed, October 3rd, 2017

Mystic Micro-Gospels; small spiritual stories in and around my neighborhood in Southeast CT

I'm sitting on the front porch stoop when a friend and neighbor walks by. He sighs deeply. "Mike", I say, "That's a pretty heavy sigh..." and go to the sidewalk to meet him. He tells me about an injured grandchild... frustration with the uncertainty of its seriousness... disagreement with his child about what to do. I listen carefully, nodding as he talks, trying, but unable to form the words of a prayer in my mind.

This is what God is up to in my neighborhood; listening to one another. Saying wordless prayers of the heart for someone struggling with life.... groaning inwardly with the whole creation while we wait. "...the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." Whether there was healing for Mike's grandchild or not, I do not know. But there was healing for Mike, and for me.