November 4, 2020 “I love the story of Elijah going up on the mountain to listen for the Lord,” said one of my friends as we participated in a small-group discussion. “You know? The one where the Lord isn’t in the wind, in the earthquake or in the fire, but he comes in a whisper. That’s my experience of how God communicates with us. It’s in the little things and in the quiet moments.” I chuckled. “What?” my friend asked. “The Lord apparently knows that I’m both dense and oblivious,” I said. “It seems God is much more likely to beat me over the head with a message and make sure it’s abundantly clear. I’m pretty sure he knows I’d miss what he has to say otherwise.” Let me give you an example. A couple of weeks ago, I was having a conversation with a wise, trusted professional I’ve known most of my life. I was talking about stress and shame I was experiencing as a result of royally messing up something. “Jesus told us to ‘love your neighbor as yourself,’” this woman told me. “We often focus on the ‘love your neighbor’ part of that, but don’t forget to love yourself.” While the comment struck me, part of me also thought, “yeah. Easy for her to say.” Just a few days later, as I was attending Sunday Mass, guess what line appeared in the Gospel? Yup. You guessed it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Our pastor, Father Raymond J. Moreau, also stressed in his homily that we need to love ourselves as part of that equation. I sat in my pew and smiled under my mask. “Ok, God. Now I’m listening,” I thought. “I’ll work on that.” My experience tells me that God knows how to reach each of us. For some of us, or at some moments of our lives, it may be in that whisper or quiet moment. For other people, or at other moments, it may be in the message that beats us over the head. It may be in Scripture or in the text of a book, article or blog we read. It may be in a something said by a pastor, friend or family member. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He reaches us where we are and where he knows we’ll hear what he has to say to us. We just have to be listening. |
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