Faith Matters 28: For The Gardner News, February 3, 2007
Listening for God
Good relationships take time to deepen and grow. They take a commitment to spend time together, to share honestly what is happening in our lives, and a balance between talking and listening. These same basic principles apply to our relationship with God!
Is there time in your busy week to spend with God, with no other distractions getting in the way? Worship is wonderful, but it can be a long stretch from Sunday to Sunday. Is that one hour a week enough to nurture and develop the relationship with God that you desire, or the relationship with you that God desires? If you aren’t intentional about making time for God in your schedule, most likely it won’t happen. Prayers on the fly are important, but they are like living on snack food instead of a balanced diet! Consider spending time each morning praying or simply “sitting with God”. Light a candle to create a holy space that reminds you of the sacredness of God’s presence with you. Or pour yourself a cup of tea or coffee and sit and drink in the holiness of this time. Take a walk outside and turn your attention to God as you breathe in the day and the beauty around you. Read a bit of scripture, perhaps one of the Psalms, and open yourself to how God might be speaking to you through the living Word. End with the Lord’s prayer or some other simple prayer.
Let your relationship with God deepen as you spend more and more time together. Notice those days when you feel God’s presence with you most strongly. Or the times when you feel most distant from God’s presence. Notice the silence that enfolds you and open all your senses to encounter God in whatever way God presents to you this day.
Talk to God! Begin by saying “thank you.” Count your blessings. Cultivate a heart of gratitude, no matter what. And then talk plainly and honestly to God about your life. Share your joys and your hopes, your failures, your sorrows and your concerns. Ask for the deeper relationship you would like with God. Ask for God’s guidance. Ask to know God’s prayer for you and your life.
And then, perhaps most important of all, Listen! Listen to how God responds to you. It’s hard to hear God unless you stop talking, let go of the distractions, and simply open yourself to whatever God might be saying to you. Sometimes God speaks with startling clarity. More often, though, God speaks in subtler ways. Be open not only to words that might suddenly come into your consciousness, but also images and feelings. For some of us, God speaks most clearly in our hearts rather than our ears! However we encounter God or hear God, take time to sit with the word or image and savor it. Be aware that sometimes what we think is God speaking to us is actually something else, a voice of a long departed authority figure, or even our own desires. How do you know if this really is the “voice of God?” What fruits does it bring in your life or the life of others? Does what we hear deepen our relationship with God? Does it fit with the great commandment? Does it speak to love and compassion, for God, for ourselves and for others? This is an area where reflection with spiritual directors and spiritual friends can be really helpful!
Our relationship with God can’t be rushed. We may have an encounter with God in a crisis or a peak moment in our lives, but that is no substitute for day to day companionship and time spent together. If we are willing to devote the time and energy, we will find that God is always there waiting for us, inviting us to a deeper relationship in turn.