Stand With Me, Love

If God can’t get our attention with the sunshine and 72 degree weather, the flowering red buds and lemon yellow tulips, the happy chirping of the birds, what, oh what, will it take? 

We are all so busy buzzing around, checking tasks off our to-do lists, fitting our exercise routine in, running errands that more often than not feel like a dog chasing its tail . . . we need caffeine to bring us up and wine to bring us down.  More sleep than we give ourselves.  More veggies than we typically consume on any given day (Two and a half cups is the goal!).  The long and the short - we barely take time to breathe. Be still. Listen. 

But if we did, oh my! If God could have our attention, just for a minute, She’d have so much to say.  There are people that hear Him. That She directly speaks to. Neale Donald Walsch and his Conversations With God series come to mind. Sarah Young of the devotional Jesus Calling is another great example.  I have read both of these authors and find wisdom and inspiration in each of their messages and stories.

Truly though, it wasn’t until two days ago that a friend, whose father passed recently and has been facing some really trying times, shared with me her own experience of being spoken to by God.  She refers to her experience as “Sitting With God” and she hears Him speaking to her throughout the day (and even waking her at night with His messages and insights) and has been compelled to write what comes to her in a paperback journal a friend recently gave her. 

As we talked in the school parking lot, I said I’d love to hear some of the messages some time. “No!” she says emphatically. “I can show you right now. Come look.”  And there it is – the mythic journal - the entries themselves scratched down, fast and in a big hurry; she has to write quickly as the words come like crashing waves, while she urges her pen to press on. She shares that the actual writing style is not hers, including words she does not typically use (or sometimes even know) and at times, the messages come in different languages . . . There are other instances when God gives her an image (i.e., two souls connecting) but no words . . . And she does her best to translate that. All the while, God keeps moving along and she’s like “Wait a minute! Let me catch up, please.”

The writing itself and the messages are absolutely beautiful – breathtaking, lyrical, awe-inspiring.  Not to sound clichéd, but this is the most incredible gift.  Many of the messages sound like love letters from God to her – or to any other soul in need of love, connection, and affirmation. And as I listen to my friend share, I grab her arm and say, “This is big. Huge. You have a book here.  This has to be shared.  Other people need to hear this.”  And then, just as quickly, “I’ll help you. I will not do anything with your writings that you do not want done.  But if you want me to organize them, type them up, help you start a blog . . . I will.”

I have had a hard time telling people about this experience because it is so hard to adequately express the seeming miracle I am witnessing; tears literally come to my eyes as I think of the beauty, grace, and trust God has bestowed my friend.  Two hours after my friend and I talked she sent me this “Sitting With God” entry that came to her after our conversation:

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of The Lord’ is the position of understanding that He (Holy Trinity) has arrived and is at work within the congregation. You may sit and observe it at work within others through their emotion. The Trinity arrives with passion and develops emotional responses from others. The ones who are open to seeing and feeling will be overwhelmed and the Trinity will begin to be allowed to work within that person. That time - that space - belongs to the Holy Trinity. Complete wholeness allows a welcomed call to the Trinity to enter and begin the good work that ultimately will transform the person and then becomes their work. In time you will see the transformation and the new plane which exists for that new viewed life. Welcome the Holy Trinity to guard, respect, and honor you. For it's only when you invite It in that the work can begin and guarding remains. For the work can become yours and then the presence of protecting continues. The light is always present. Use it, call upon it, share it, become one with it. Stand with me, Love.

Needless to say, I have been a little in shock since my conversation with my friend – trying to make sense of it all, take it in and inhale the goodness that is my friend’s companion and truth right now.  But also, just to slow down and absorb it.  To loosen that noose of control that orders my thinking and days.  For instance, I tried to go on a four mile run with Tractor yesterday morning and boy, was he slow-pokin’ it!  Good Gosh, the first mile was at a snail’s pace and I was wondering, “Is he tired? Is he sick? Come on already Tractor!”  And then on the tail of that, “Maybe he just wants to take it all in . . .”  So we compromised.  We ran a very slow two and then walked the second two miles, all the while noticing and giving thanks for the beauty and wonder of a perfect spring morning.

God, the Holy Trinity, the All-Loving, the All-Powerful, the Alpha and Omega, The One, Shakti . . . Call it whatever you will.  It’s everywhere.  In everything.  All the time.  If only we’d slow down, get quiet, and notice.  Maybe you’ll hear a still, clear voice. Maybe you won’t. But whether you hear it or not, it’s there for all of us, in whatever form we can absorb it.  In the smallest detail of the flower’s stamen, in the vivid cobalt hue of the blue bird’s wing, in the depths of our children’s eyes when we look at them and see God’s reflection . . .

It’s really very simple.  Slow down. Look. Listen. See. Hear. God is waiting ever-so-patiently.  And when you finally arrive, you might just hear Her say, “Stand with me, Love”.