The Single Greatest Thing You Can Do for Your Relationship with God

To be a writer, the single greatest thing I can do is write.  To improve my relationship with God, the single greatest thing I can do is spend time with Him. That's what I used to think.

Writers procrastinate all the time.  I'm magnificent at it.  The same holds true for us in our relationship with God. We want to have a real connection with our Creator. We have the best of intentions. We talk about it. Some of us even talk a lot at Him. It doesn't seem to work. He doesn't seem to be listening. Or we simply never find the time to be with God.

Just exactly how are we supposed to BE with someone we can't even see anyhow?

Since God is everywhere, there's no particular place to GO to be with Him, right? So can't we spend time with Him anywhere? And you've been trying to listen but getting no answers.  I'm right there with you. I get it.

Looking at relationships around me, I see some are vibrant, touchy-feely, happy. They KNOW each other's likes and dislikes, habits and fears.  Others are in their own little world clueless to details in the lives of those with whom they live or work. That's me plenty of the time.

One of the worst feelings in the world is when no one listens or cares.  Right? That's God's dilemma. What? He doesn't have dilemmas, you say? He doesn't need us. He has everything. Wrong.

He is Love. All love wants to do is give and receive. That's the nature of Love.  It keeps giving and giving in eternal hope of us choosing to love back in return.

The single greatest thing you can do to strengthen your relationship with God is to care. That's what turned the corner for me. I was curious about Him because others had such glowing things to say about Him. I wanted to know more about Him. I went to church every Sunday; studied His Word in bible study. One day, I started to do what you do when you care about others in your life:
* I became more interested in Him. What did He think or want?
* I talked to Him about little things. "Hey! I could use Your help here."
* I LISTENED. Just listened. As long as I was talking, I wasn't learning anything new. Besides, I remembered He knows everything, so what need was there to tell Him what was in my heart. So I shut up and started listening. That was brilliant. I'm sure He had something to do with it.

In a foreign country, we understand little of any conversations around us at first. We get lost and hungry but can't read the signs or the menus. We hear directions but do not understand. We jabber in our own language and get nowhere.

The discipline of listening in silence to His still, small voice brought me to my goal of being closer to God. I didn't hear with my ears, but I began to understand some things. You might find something new by trying it. Go somewhere quiet and let God lead you by giving Him one of your most prized possessions. For most of us, it's our time or our heart.

It's scary because you are attempting to release control for a few moments. Do the thing you fear to do and that's the death of fear, a friend once taught me.  (Thank you, Mary Kay Slowkowski.) It's counterintuitive. I've found a lot about God to be counterintuitive. I have to give to receive. To live, I must die. When I sin or ignore Him, He forgives me. It goes against what I think I know.  I kinda like counterintuitive stuff.  It's like an adventure in discovery.

Black holes in space contract inwardly. That's what happens when we focus too long on our needs and wants. Light - and Love - expand. It is their very nature.

I waited like a bird before dawn. My cares turned toward the Other. Watching and listening, the eyes and ears of my heart opened. Try it. You'll see.

Start by caring. About Him. It's all any of us wants. Somebody who cares. It's the crack that lets in the light. It's the greatest thing you can do.

Here in the south, when I ask where something is in a grocery store, I hear this: "It's in Aisle 3.  I'll take you there.  Please follow me."  I push my cart after him.

Behold, I make all things new. Revelation 21:5.
#procrastination #timeforGod #writers #knowGod #GetToKnowGod #SingleGreatestThingToDoForGod #chrismanion #MaryKaySlowkowski #Caring

Carrying The Olympic Flame

There was one moment that stood out for me from the many moving moments of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It was the lighting of the Olympic torch. It didn't go the way we thought it would. There was no one special person selected to light it. There were many vessels that received the light and passed it on to others. As each connected, a circle of light was formed. Then each light was raised, as we will someday be. As they were lifted up, each individual light came together to form one light, one Olympic cauldron as a symbol for all to see.

 Only after the flame was lit did we begin to understand the brass vessels we had seen being carried so carefully in gloved white hands as the athletes from each participating country entered the arena. They were symbols of what each country held and carried to these world games: the best of their athletes. But they seemed to also be symbols of our souls, held and carried so tenderly by God, lit with His eternal flame which we pass along to those near us, igniting a global, growing Christic consciousness that we may never be able to fully understand or see until we view it from above. "E pluribus unum,"  a Latin phrase on the currency of the United States along with In God We Trust, translates from the many, one. One light. One world. One God. Indivisible. With liberty and justice for all. We saw each carrier of an Olympic torch dial it open to keep the flame lit. May we remember to do the same with our hearts to be enflamed with the fire of God's love. As others connect with us, a circle of love will be form around the world that will pierce its darkness with divine, healing light. It is not only time for the Olympics. It is time to hold up the light of our shared divinity, the power of God's love for the world to behold. It probably won't go the way we think it will. There will be no one special person who makes it happen. All we have to do is carry the light so others can see it and connect to it. God will raise it up. It will be inspiring to watch.

Discerning

"The goal of discerning is to reach purity of heart." Sr. Meg Funk

This is the place of still waters for me, where the waters of our sometimes agitated minds are stilled and we can see clearly what is reflected there, or (for me) hear the still, soft voice of Love Who speaks to my heart when I'm quiet enough to hear Him/Her.

I often resist the good, the God of all creation, because the egoic self is full of itself and thinks it can do without God, rationalizing sometimes: I don't want to bother Him; I can handle this. I loved Sr. Meg's expression: "Our back is to the window of grace.” In our moments of humility (some given to us so that we can hear or see our need for God), that resistance is melted by God's warm grace.

We must follow the impulse of grace... yes! And out praxes (e.g. Centering Prayer, Welcoming Prayer, Jesus Prayer, Guard of the Heart) makes this easier to do.

In my office, we removed a window to create an entrance door in its place. There is only 9 inches of a glass window that runs alongside this door. There is no other way for the light to get in. On days when the weather is warm, we leave the door open to allow more light and air in. On colder or hot, humid days when the door needs to be closed, I immediately pull the thin curtain back to allow daylight to enter the otherwise dark room. Recently, after pulling back the curtain time after time to let the light in, I rolled up the curtain and tied it on top. It will come down now only when the hot summer's sun needs to be blocked for a few hours to prevent the room from overheating (just as we walk between centering prayer sits to prevent the energy from becoming too intense within us).

Stand long enough in the light, and our entire being soon hungers for it deeply, desiring to turn toward it more and more often until one day, the curtain is pulled away forever.

Labor Coach

Softly, I brush your forehead with my fingertips.
I curl my finger and wipe the tear that forms at the corner of your eye.
I kiss the lips that will speak My truth.
I brush your hair to soothe your spirit.
I fill your heart with a wellspring of joy and love.
Push now. It is time to give it birth.
My Spirit lifts it as a fountain that splashes with joy on all those who draw near.

I have called you by name. You are mine. Isaiah 43