I remember clearly the first time God asked me a question. It was ambiguous, puzzling, and frustrating. I was confused. Was there a right answer and a wrong answer? Surely there must be, for God was asking. And clearly, the correct answer was the one that I dreaded? Wasn’t it? The answer that I did not want to give? But how was I to know? What was I supposed to do with this question? And why would God ask me a question in the first place?
Continue reading “The munificence of the God who initiates conversation”To begin to comprehend the incomprehensible
Who is God? How are we even to begin to think about him? Is there somewhere, somehow, to unravel the vastness of the seemingly incomprehensible? God can so easily seem distant, severe, austere and disapproving. But where do we begin if we really have no idea what or who this God, followed by millions for millennia, is?
Continue reading “To begin to comprehend the incomprehensible”Hearing God part 3 – Hope for those who don’t
I was in conversation with someone recently, and they spoke to me about how they have never heard from God. They said that they have tried. That they have sought to listen, and they have asked God to speak, but they do not hear anything. They told me how they longed to hear from God in the way so many others seem to, and yet that has not been their experience. And I said that I understood. For I too was once in that place.
Continue reading “Hearing God part 3 – Hope for those who don’t”The choices set before us
When we are very young, it seems that the world is before us with endless opportunities and possibilities. We can be anything we want. In theory at least. Though it must be acknowledged that so often in practice this is not the case. We are not to be constrained by gender, race, age or belief. All we must do is dream, strive, and it will be attained. I wonder if this is a gift for the young, for it is what drives them out and forward. And this is both necessary and essential.
As we move beyond this and grow at least a little older (and I am claiming no great age here, as I am fully aware that many of my readers are older than I). It becomes evident that we cannot do everything. We cannot fulfil every dream and follow every whim, for our choices are not endless. We become constrained, responsible, restricted. But could this also, somehow, be a gift?
Continue reading “The choices set before us”