Skip to main content

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.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3.3 - Forage

I recently looked up the rest of the Mary Oliver poem that ends in "tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" because that was the only part I had ever heard, and it turns out the rest of The Summer Day  is about going for a walk and lying about in the grass. That's what she planned to do with her one wild and precious life. I feel like it gets misapplied a lot. As the weather grows cooler, I've been thinking about foraging, as a concept. I am a terrible gardener. Even as a child I loathed getting up early and tramping through the dewy grass to the dusty garden to water and pull weeds. As an adult, I stumbled onto the one plant that likes the climate of my front windows but claim no personal credit for their flourishing. If we ever move I may have to leave them here, to ensure their survival. There's also a pot of mint by my front step that survives on rain water or when one of the kids points out that it's a bit crunchy. Plants...
1 comment
Read more

Reading and Writing

  #attunedpracticetuesdays: where we share the rituals and routines that are aligned with our sense of peace and wellbeing A couple of months ago, while working on a commission project , I started a new practice. I was listening to audio books while working since the project required my eyes but not my full attention, and since it was fairly labor intensive, I took the weekends off (not something I would normally do). Lacking something to do with my hands, the first Saturday I decided to put my speedy reading to good use and read a novel in one sitting (my preferred method, anyway). Then I read another novel the next Saturday. And now it has becomes a weekly thing. The only rule is that it has to be fiction - I read enough non fiction that a novel a week isn't going to hurt anything (and it wouldn't anyway, reading is reading). Helping out with Paper Heart Books and attending a bring-your-own-book-club meeting last week helped restock my dwindling supply. I like to get hard cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

Festivals and Fairs

October is the Month of Fun Outings. The weather is generally pleasant, many things are less crowded than they are in summer because school has started back, and there are also an array of local events. We try to make the most of it, since I got used to not getting sick while we stayed in for a couple years so now we ride out the germiest months at home. But before that, we frolic. We'll miss our favorite fall festival due to scheduling conflict, but there will be a small one at my eldest's dance studio, and we're all going to the state fair this year. There are street fairs and at some point soon we'll go and each choose a pumpkin to stack on the front step five deep, and my littlest will name each family member while pointing at their pumpkin every time we go in or out the door.  I've started leaving windows open at night, and sometimes it's been cool enough to have them open during the day, too. My desk candle has expanded to three candles on a cheese board b...
Post a Comment
Read more