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Word


I was recently asked to share on Sunday morning, with several others, how God communicates with me. This was my response.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was there with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. - John 1:1-3 CSV

When I heard this as a child, I immediately took it literally - that Language equals God. The concept of language still amazes me, especially when it is written. A thought occurs, then travels down my arm and out onto a page with no particular effort. I can then hold and examine my thought outside of myself, or share it with someone else. That blows my mind. The creation, cohesion, and community contained in language is extraordinary and strikes me as something that not only only God could invent, but also only God could sustain.

In her poem She Said, How Do You Know When You Are Hearing From God?, Amena Brown writes, "I want to tell her, to hear God you have to be willing to experience what's holy in places many people don't believe to be sacred." Child-me did not distinguish between the words of King David and the words of Emily Dickinson; both held equal potential. The key was Spirit guidance - reading with a mind and heart rooted in truth, and open to correction, to direction, to wonder, to love.

Present-day-me had been undergoing some spiritual deconstruction, and that's an idea that's been unearthed as I've cleared space. I've begun to notice God communicating with me through Words - poetry and prose, sacred and secular, the writings of others and sometimes even my own journaling, as I stop and stare at a sentence that I just wrote but definitely didn't consciously think first.

I trust that it is God speaking because the message is consistent, equal parts prodding and encouragement. It's a call to kindness, to compassion, to advocacy, to justice. And I thank Creator, Word, and Wisdom, holding their message not only in my heart, but also in my hands.

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