My grandmother, I believe, had a keen understanding about the work and impact of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the faithful - or at least about how she experienced the Spirit in her life that she thought was somewhat universal. An important way of articulating that understanding was affirming that there is a difference between feelings and the gifts of the Spirit. In Abuela's experience of the Spirit - I think in her theology - there was nothing that could take away a gift already granted by the Spirit, whereas feelings are transient. Another way of saying this could be that humans are temporal and so is what we can give, whereas God is eternal - beyond time - and so is what the divine gives.
We should bookmark this for a theological conversation, perhaps. But I digress
Abuela was concerned (as I’m sure most grands are) about the wellbeing of her 5 grandchildren, 4 known-to-her great grandchildren, and 1 known-to-her great great grandchild! But my grandmother never prayed for us to be happy. In fact, she was adamant in teaching us that happiness was not what we should pursue. For happiness, in the end a feeling, is transient. She would argue, I think, that one can’t have happiness, and that being happy was (perhaps by design) temporal.
But she did pray for us to have joy. In fact, she was adamant in teaching us that joy, in the end a gift of the Spirit, once given to us, could not be taken away. And what is more, she would argue that joy, notwithstanding how one felt or what was going on at any given time, would always be there, seeing us through the thick and thin of anything. “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” Those are the words of the psalmist (51.12). Joy is not simply happiness. Joy is a gift of God that reminds us of God’s gift of grace AND propels us to our life of worship, discipleship, and witness.
And for this gift from Abuela, I am grateful.
This reflection was originally shared with the Presbyterian United Church of Christ as my weekly reflection on the church’s MidWeek 12/10/2025
the photo, by Zain Ali, is of a bougainvillea, known by many in Puerto Rico as “trinitarias” , was arguably Abuela Pura’s favorite flower.