The teacher kept saying it would suddenly dawn on me. That there would be a cloud-clearing, sun-streaming moment of revelation and I would miraculously get it.

I [Elizabeth] was in the ninth grade and the "it" was working out proofs in geometry. For months I had been struggling to understand why the teacher and some of my friends could look at a problem and immediately visualize, then verbalize, how to get from A to B to C. No matter how many proofs I worked through with the teacher the moment I sat in front of one by myself I was clueless. I had never been any good at math and my frustration in geometry was simply another notch in the belt I wore that proclaimed, "I'll never get math!" Despite the teacher's encouragement I had absolutely no faith that I would ever "get it."

But she was absolutely right. One day, laboring through yet another recitation of Side-Angle-Side/Angle-Side-Angle, it suddenly just made sense. It was obvious. It was easy. It was even kind of boring, because it was so ridiculously simple!

Literally overnight, my test grades went from low C's to all A's. (In the interest of truth-telling, except for a momentary resurgence of this flukish phenomenon in trigonometry, A's never again appeared on any mathematics final grade). It was one of the most surprising "Aha" moments I have ever experienced. What had been unintelligible cryptic information had miraculously revealed itself to me and was as easy to understand as my own name.

We've all had those "Aha" experiences when an unexpected, out-of-the-blue, gift-of-grace has dropped right into our lap, or even better right into our head. Whether it is something as basic as figuring out how to finish a geometry proof or as complicated as envisioning the DNA triple-helix, they are watershed events that stay with us and transform us.

The unexpectedly startling nature of the "Aha" imprints itself on our mind and spirit in a way no ploddingly logical deduction could. "Aha's" strike a spark in the soul and fire up the imagination. In one shimmering moment they can transport us from frustration to fulfillment, from dead-end despair to open-ended possibilities.

"Aha's" need not be revolutionary to be revealing. In the mythology of scientific discoveries, Galileo's exuberant trips up and down the Tower of Pisa dropping various-sized objects and Newton's interrupted reverie caused by an apple whacking him upside the head, resulted in huge scientific insights into the fields of physics.

For most of us our aha's don't radically change the world.

But they do change us.

· Aha--When you suddenly figured out how to shift a standard transmission . . . and gained your freedom on wheels.

· Aha--When you suddenly read and understood your Spanish assignment in Spanish . . . and heard the heartbeat and felt the rhythm of another culture.

· Aha--When you suddenly got timing right for a round-off back-handspring . . . and made the team.

· Aha--When you held your newborn child and discovered parent-hood . . . and never slept soundly again.

· Aha--When you suddenly could transpose from the key of C to the key of F-sharp without writing a note . . . and felt the music in your soul.

The very nature of "aha's"--can leave you with some long dry spells. Life has droughts of little delights. We easily fall into daily routines, grinding ruts, which keep us wedged into the pre-recorded and predictable.

This is not just a postmodern problem. In fact in the eighteenth century some road designers and path-way providers took it upon themselves to inject a little diversity, a little spice, into the daily drudgery of getting form Point A to Point B. Along common walk-ways, built along the fields and hedge-rows of busy village-to-village paths, it became popular to construct what were then known as "ha-ha's". A seemingly straightforward path would suddenly disappear behind a camouflaged hedge-way. The walker would have to stop and carefully look around to find where the path re-emerged. Sunken fences were also used to startle walkers out of mindlessness and into mindfulness.

Eventually boundary ditches, unexpected stiles with benches for resting and reflecting, and other gently startling divergences from the straight and beaten path, were added along these busy roadways. These "ha-ha's" were really "aha's" -requiring the walker to raise his or her eyes from their step-by-step single-minded progression and instead to look up, look around, take stock of their surroundings, and really see where they were going.

That is the power of the "Aha"-to make us see the same things, and hear the same words, but with a completely new understanding. This "aha" moment is what Jesus was promising his disciples in today's gospel text.

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, would come to them in the post-resurrection age and would reveal to disciples things they could not "bear," could not take in or understand, during their time with the earthly Jesus. In this new age the Holy Spirit would make known to the disciples things that had previously been obscured, shrouded from their insight.

The Holy Spirit will speak and "Aha," all the things Jesus had spoken of would suddenly make sense.

The Holy Spirit will reveal and "Aha," the divinely intended outcome of Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection, would suddenly make sense.

The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus through his words and "Aha," the presence of the risen Jesus would be real and eternally in their midst.

Today's text is full of "Aha's." Jesus had already spoken of the paraclete, the Advocate, which would be sent to the disciples after he was gone. But now this Spirit is revealed not just as some holy tape recorder, reciting and reiterating Jesus' previously preached words to a post-resurrection gathering of disciples. Surprise! There will be new information, insights into "the things that are to come" that this separate entity, this Holy Spirit, will have to offer them. Yet this Spirit's words can be trusted and continue the work of revealing Christ because . . . Surprise! The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are a divine Trinity of one purpose even as they are three-personed.

What Jesus' words declare to his disciples is--be ready for a surprise-for an "Aha" moment when the Holy Spirit comes into your presence. Without yet giving away the punch line Jesus, warns his disciples that a "ha-ha" is coming their way.

Are you open to the surprising advent, the startling event, and the amazing news that the Holy Spirit is bringing your way? Or are your eyes so fixed on this rutted road directly in front of your feet that you will miss the "ha-ha's" and "aha's" that are nestled like unexpected lumps and bumps in your daily grind?

Try this test-run. To what extent is yours an encapsulated, insulated, remote-controlled existence?

Doctors have suggested that one way to keep the biology of our brain from beginning to form those plague-clogged nerve paths that indicate the possible onset of Alzheimer's may be to intentionally try to fire off some different neurons.

Here are some surprisingly simple, yet revealing exercises for our mental nerve cells.

· Try taking a completely different route to work.

· Shop at an unfamiliar grocery store.

· Brush your teeth with your left hand if you are right-handed, with your right hand if you are left-handed.

· Sleep on the other side of the bed.

· Re-arrange your kitchen cupboards.

In other words try to intentionally surprise yourself. Anything you can do without thinking about it-change. Think about it. Struggle with it. Pay attention to how you do it and what steps must be taken to accomplish it.

Now try and do the same thing in your spiritual life and with your spiritual nerve cells.

· Find a new table grace (and mean it!).

· Read Leviticus (bet you never have!), instead of Luke.

· Go to a Greek Orthodox or a Pentecostal or a National Baptist service (whatever is least comfortable or familiar!).

· Pray outside, pray standing, pray prostrate, pray alone, pray in a group (whichever you would never do!).

· Look for God's presence in an unlikely place (the dentist's office, the recycling center, the veterinarian's clinic, the Feed and Seed store!).

God has filled your life with "ha-ha's." Look up from the "ha-ha's" and experience the "Aha's."