Monday, February 21, 2011

Something Simple Speaks Volumes
I'm finding it very difficult, sometimes, to translate GOD's and my communication into an understandable "story" or explanation. John 4:24 tells us that "GOD is SPIRIT, and those who worship HIM must do so in SPIRIT and truth." GOD communicates with us NOT in the natural ways we are used to hearing people, or seeing their body language, but through feelings, thoughts, impressions and images somewhere deep inside of us - in our SPIRITs, I guess. Also, GOD speaks to us in our individual "SPIRIT" language, by which I mean, HE knows our emotional make-up, our unspoken dreams, hidden wounds, experiences from childhood and how WE interpreted them in our memory... and the zillion other parts of our thinking and being - uncommunicated and not understood completely by even ourselves. Because of our complexity, when HE speaks to an individual, the meaning is - LOADED, and not easily conveyed. I'll give a simple example from years ago.

When a woman I've never seen before shares, after the worship set on Sunday morning, that "GOD is very pleased with me," a bit of a prologue may reveal more depth. On the surface, the woman, probably in her 60's, prefaced the "message" with "I've never shared something like this before, but I believe the LORD wants me to tell you something." She happened to be sitting behind me and her kind words were completely unsolicited; she just kind of whispered to me as the music was dying down.

On a deeper note, experiencing much self-loathing growing up and always desiring my father, (the parent I saw as my greater ally in childhood), to be pleased with me, I had awoken that very Sunday morning singing a mournful song to God. The words and music, I composed, as I sang with tears in my eyes and a longing in my heart. It wasn't unusual for me to sing for quite a while on a Sunday morning, as my husband, a pastor, whose early church departure, left me with plenty of solitude before the service. Like my biblical hero, David, I enjoy singing my prayers, if I'm alone. The words to that morning's song went something like this: "O GOD, to hear you say 'well done,' - this is all I desire; to know YOU're pleased with me would be enough."
So, the woman's simple words to me that morning held more meaning than she could ever know; I told her this and thanked her. To this day, that short interchange holds me fast with the assurance that my heavenly FATHER IS indeed pleased with this undeserving child. Volumes of meaning in five simple words.

No comments:

Post a Comment