Posts tagged hearing from God

I now have a God Box. I had to. My dresser and my desk were covered with all these sweet notes, kisses, hearts or butterflies from the Lord. As I was lovingly putting them in the box, I thought about how I have a box for my kids, and a box for Chuck.  Little remembrances of moments, notes, emotions, memories of our lives together.

And now a God box.  At first I felt foolish. Or insane.

But then I went to the mountains with Chuck.
In our favorite jeep with the top down.
On our favorite kind of day, crisp and cool.
With our favorite music playing loud.
Holding hands and breathing deep.

We were aware, invested, immersed in being together. Nothing foolish. Nothing insane. But instead it was the most normal, delightful thing in the world.

Then we went to our favorite spot in the mountains. But actually it was Our spot before it was our spot. I had been running away to that spot to cry or dream or vent long before Chuck came into the picture. When I got there, it was just as as sentimental with Him as it had been with him. Butterflies were everywhere. The sand was warm, the water loud and laughing. The trees nodding and bending in the almost-autumn breeze. I gasped in surprise when a cool gust of wind swept across my skin as walked in the chilled water. And there it was…

A little pink heart lying on the river’s bed.

No doubt discarded by a visitor tubing down the river. But there. Not carried away. But there. On that day. At that place. For me.

I picked it up and laughed out loud. My voice and tears burst out, “I love You too!”

What else could I say?

No, I will never get tired of His love notes. Because I can never get enough of His love.

Lord, you delight in us. In me. You are ever, ever trying to tell us how much You love us. Give us eyes to see, and ears to hear. And boxes. We all need God boxes so we won’t forget. Oh yes, and Lord…We love You back. Amen

How do we “be” with God?

Well, how do you grow friendships? Fall in love? How do you learn anything? First you see or hear something that piques your interest. Then you see a benefit to yourself. It sounds selfish but it is true. We are drawn to new things and even people first by what we perceive we will gain from them or the relationships. Then there is a level of discovery and fascination that leads to more and more connection and appreciation. And then ultimately comes the phase where we want to invest and give of ourselves to that thing or person.

This makes the God-head the best Person in the world, ever.
(You know – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – Them.)

God is the most interesting, funny, perplexing, gentle and romantic Person I know. And our relationship grew over time, and continues to change, over time. There is an investment on both our parts, Theirs  and mine, to know and be known.

We both gain benefit from being in relationship. I enjoy Them. They enjoy me. But it didn’t start out that way. It was very one-sided.

It was all Them in the beginning.

Although I really thought it was all me in the beginning.

Let me explain. My friend Lyschel has a little girl named Blaire. And Blaire is not walking or talking but she thinks she is. She scrambles and stumbles around on legs not quite ready yet and she babbles and slaps her leg and carries on.  She really thinks she is the one putting forth all the effort in the relationship.

But really it is her mom and dad constantly engaging and talking and teaching her. They are the ones loving on her until she matures to the place they can really communicate.

In a very simple way, I think we begin our relationship with God the same way. We think we’re doing all the work with little results. But God. It’s not so.

If you feel like you are the one babbling and God is not really responding, keep babbling. Because every time you turn your heart to Him, you’re practicing. And one day you will realize that you have grown up and things are different. A conversation has begun that only gets deeper and richer.