Listening to the Sacred in Your Life

Wednesday Wisdom.

On New Year’s Day, I sat in front of my fireplace on a rainy Saturday afternoon, writing in my journal. My shoulders were hunched and my mind felt like it was in a washing machine, filled with problems I was facing at work, and pressures of money. I began to cry, and as I poured out my heart and tears to God, I heard three words: Live in Hope.

I heard these words and hesitated, since I tend not to be a hopeful person, a habit from my background, so these words stopped me in my tracks; they surprised me, the way a pink flower on the tip of a cactus does in the desert, which is why I trusted them—they were new words for me. They felt like an invitation: Live in Hope.

How do we trust a moment like this, when we hear something that sounds foreign to us, something unexpected?

First, we notice the words, the sensations in our bodies, the images, the stirrings in our hearts, or the deep silence. We notice how we are stopped in our tracks, and how we are attracted to what is compelling us and drawing us closer. We stop. We listen.

I asked God: What does this mean for me right now—live in hope? I’m not completely sure. But I will trust that I will understand in time. Listening takes faith; it takes trust; it takes patience. I have begun by letting the words live in me; and by saying the words aloud throughout the day.

Slowly, I am beginning to have an inkling that these three words are inviting me to live more in the present, to turn my attention more to the presence of God, and to become more mindful of my frustration and try my best to release it.

Listening happens in layers, and responding to how God is speaking to us in our lives is a daily commitment, and a great joy.

***

Practice:

• Open your heart to the sacred word or a phrase that the Divine wants to offer you.
• Trust what you hear; don’t try to make sense of it right away, or try to quickly package it.
• The call is to live the word; to discover the word; to let it unfold.

 

Look deeply into your life.
Search out the hidden things
within your circumstances.
The beauty is there.
Comfort and forgiveness are available.
Hope is always waiting
for you to find.

~ from William Martin in THE SAGE’S TAO TE CHING

 found on Friends of Silence