The importance of reflection and discovering how God speaks to you....
I am distracted easily; I am
absolutely terrible with mental silence, and though I have tried, I have never
been able to hear God “speak” to me in the silence. Maybe I am too distracted
or didn’t try hard enough, but God is not limited to silence.
God, love itself, pursues us
constantly, making accommodations for us, we just have to be open to him. God
made me, created me. He gave me my
unique personality and quirks and love of talking and writing (seriously… I
like never stop talking and writing). He knows I suck at being silent and
listening sometimes. So he speaks to me in ways I can hear him.
I recently came to the
realization that God was talking to me through my talking and writing! I would
be discussing a topic with a friend and suddenly a profound thought would spew
out of my mouth that I know was not my own. Similarly, I would sit down to
write in my journal with nothing in mind and suddenly words would just come,
telling me what I needed to know. (Like
what I’m saying right now, none of this was planned, I just suddenly got the
urge to pull out my journal and write at 1am! It is probably largely due to my
spazzy personality, but God works with that in ways that amaze me).
I urge you all to try
spending a few minutes every night or morning discovering how God speaks to you.
Maybe for you he will speak in the silence of your heart. For others, try
reading a page of a Saint book or even just a bible quote and try writing down
what you think about it, or how you relate to it. Even if you think you have no
thoughts about it, try writing or thinking about it, see what comes to you.
Another idea that I use a lot is talking to a friend. Read something in a Saint
book, or bible, or encyclical, or news article even, that you don’t understand?
Try discussing it with a friend and see what sort of things you come up with
together. Struggling with something? Talk to a friend! Find a friend that won’t
just commiserate with you, but will also help you to come to a deeper
understanding of yourself, and therefore help you better understand your
struggles. Discussions on any topic can lead to all sorts of discoveries! Who
knows, maybe you’ll even answer you own question in a way you didn’t expect.
Whatever you try, don’t
expect a big booming voice from heaven to suddenly answer all your questions
(though if you do, that’s great… but it hasn’t happened to me yet!). Sometimes we might even be left with even more
questions then we had before, but we should realize that these are questions
God wants us to ponder.
Sometimes it might seem like
God isn’t saying anything and that’s okay. It can take days, weeks, months, or
even years to realize everything God is telling us. That’s okay. Just trust,
for God’s plans are better than our wildest dreams.
-Kristina Cecilia
