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Monday Meditation: The Voice of Love

laurakcav Blog, Monday Meditation
Monday Meditation: The Voice of Love

While I’m out of town this week, please enjoy an excerpt from a blog post I wrote several years ago as part of a reflection series on a book by Henri Nouwen.

When we listen — really quieten our hearts and minds, still our bodies — to hear the voice of God, do we expect to hear a voice of love?

Maybe we expect judgment, condemnation, demand, criticism, disappointment, unforgiveness.  But these voices are not the voice of God in our lives.  These are the voices of the world, of culture, of people we know, of our own harsh expectations and guilt and shame, of the lies of the enemy.

When we listen to hear the voice of God and truly hear the still, small voice — that voice, the voice of our gracious and merciful God, is a loving voice.

Jesus shows us by example what it looks like to hear the loving voice of God and respond with obedience.  In the same way, we are enabled by our adoption into the family of God to hear that same voice — the loving voice of God — and are called to respond with the same obedience.

Dear lovely reader, if you hear anything other than love in the voice of God, if you are afraid there is anything other than love in God, know that there is freedom in accepting the truth of who you are and the truth of who God is.

The truth is that you are worthy, capable, and enough because you are a child of God.

The truth is that God is faithful, merciful, and loving.

The truth is that you can hear the voice of God — anyone can hear from God.  And that voice is trustworthy and gentle and full of all the chesed and agape you can possibly imagine.

You can find the full original post here.  Blessings on your week ahead, my fellow pilgrims!

Monday Meditation: The Gift

laurakcav Blog, Monday Meditation
Monday Meditation: The Gift

Beginning this week, I’m excited to share a new ongoing blog series called Monday Meditation.  These posts will be relatively short (I hope) snippets of inspiration for the week ahead, drawn from what comes up for me in my personal prayer practices.

I remember one birthday of mine, when I was turning about 11 or 12, opening presents with my family.  Part of our birthday ritual was hiding presents around the house and playing “hot-and-cold” while the birthday girl (or boy) tried to find them.   On this particular birthday, I opened the hall closet door (hot! hot!) to find a large box covered in crumpled wrapping paper reused from last Christmas.  Upon opening, I discovered another, slightly smaller wrapped box inside, and then another, and another, and another, until I found myself on the floor in the hallway–surrounded by piles of ripped paper, cardboard boxes, and my family’s smiling faces–holding a small, misshapenly wrapped object in the palm of my hand.  I pulled apart the last bit of paper to reveal a small keychain with a silver-backed heart attached.  “You put your thumb on the heart, and the color changes to tell you your mood!” my younger brother explained excitedly.

That birthday keychain is long gone now, but so many years later, I still remember the fun and surprise of opening box after box with my family looking on with laughter and anticipation.  I realized, looking back now, that the real gift my brother gave me was the experience of spending my birthday with people I loved who loved me, searching for a hidden surprise, and finding it in an unexpected and delightful way that made me feel thought of, cared for, and celebrated–just for having come into existence!  That old mood-heart keychain was just a sweet souvenir, a small takeaway that I could hold and use to remember the real gift.

Recently, I was meditating on the gift of God’s presence and found the memory of that long-ago birthday to be a gentle reminder to seek after and savor the experience of being in the presence of God.  Out of that time may come a little kernel of wisdom, a realization, an inspiration to do something or change in some way–but those takeaways aren’t really the point.  They are nice souvenirs, tangible or intangible reminders of the real gift we receive when we seek God: encountering the Holy in the present moment.

And really, isn’t that what we’re all after, we pilgrims on this journey of ours?

On Perspective and Feeling Stuck

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I came across this video this morning about the Overview Effect and was struck by how greatly our beliefs, values, and opinions are affected by our perspective.  The way we see things matters.  It affects who we are and who we become, the way we interact with others, the choices we make.

One of the valuable things about spiritual direction is the way the director can function as a mirror, reflecting back to the directee, offering a new perspective.

Sometimes we can get so focused on that one goal we have to achieve, that one problem we have to fix, that one person we have to deal with.  We get sucked in.  We get stuck.  And sometimes, the way we get unstuck is as simple as turning the camera around for a moment and focusing on something else, recognizing the value and beauty of where we have been, reflecting on the whole, taking it all in.

Sometimes we just need a little shift in perspective.

What are you feeling stuck about these days?