In the momentous and the mundane, in chaos or quiet, God’s there. For He’s incapable of abandoning you.

I was housesitting for my sister and noticed a book on her bookshelf with an intriguing title: Beginning to Pray. I wasn’t a beginner. Decades earlier, my Mom had routinely tucked me in at night with a prayer. Still, the book called to me. I began reading the story of an older woman who visited her priest with a sad story. She told him, “I have been praying all my life. I go to church regularly, but I have never felt the ‘presence of God’ that people talk about.”

The priest gave her what she thought were strange directions: “I’d like you to go to your bedroom and sit in your favorite chair. Don’t worry about praying. I want you to sit before the face of God and knit.”

When the woman returned to the priest, she told him, “After knitting for a while, I began to notice how quiet it was. How very, very quiet. I listened. Then I realized the Silence was a Presence.”

“The Silence was a Presence.” Sitting in my sister’s living room, I turned the book face down on my lap. The woman’s words surrounded me with truth. I sat before the face of God in the quiet of the room. And soon, I was enveloped in a sacred stillness.

Fast forward a decade. I’d read many more spiritual books and was hungry for the unique unconditional peace of God’s Presence as I sat in my own home, intent on praying. My seven-year-old wanted to show me how he’d memorized a limerick. Three minutes later, my five-year-old needed a band-aid, and soon, my one-year-old was howling because his walker was stuck on the edge of the coffee table. “God, if this chaos wasn’t in the way, I could meet you in the silence.” An inner wisdom—that wasn’t mine—spoke, “The chaos isn’t in the way. It is the way.” Our daily path, with all its obligations and twists and turns, is a sure route.

I still value silence as a vehicle to God, and I do my best to find it whenever and wherever possible. As Rumi said, “Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.” But when it comes to meeting God, you and I can trust God’s wisdom and intense desire to be with us. If you want a relationship with the Spirit, who is literally your Soulmate, God will provide. If you want to want it, that will be enough. God’s Grace is always enough. And it’s Raining Grace!

Today, be aware.
God’s Life floods your heart.
It’s always Raining Grace.

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Books by Sally

|Add Public Speaking to Your Comfort Zone|

It was my first-year teaching theology at the school, and I’d foolishly agreed to speak to the 900+ educational community at a prayer service. What was I thinking when I said yes? Whatever my thoughts had been, I certainly wasn’t thinking them at that moment! I needed to add public speaking to my comfort zone. Pronto!

Before I walked up to the mic, I looked around to see the principal, vice-principal, my department head, and all my colleagues. These were the people I’d hopefully be working with for years to come. I could hear the blood pounding in my ears, the drumbeat of fear echoing endlessly.

As I waited for my cue to go up to the stage, I saw one of my students. His father had recently died in a traffic accident, and he’d been in my office every day after school that week. Two rows back sat a boy whose little sister had been diagnosed with Leukemia.

When you’re loving, you can’t be nervous.

My topic was Finding God‘s Presence in Difficult Times. It occurred to me that my talk wasn’t about me but for them, the students I’d grown to love. Suddenly, an inner stillness came over me. A thought happily lodged in my brain: When you’re loving, you can’t be nervous.

I spoke calmly to the group before me. Afterward, I remembered the author of the sentence that had rescued me, Mitzi Gaynor, an American actress, singer, and dancer. Mitzi, 90 today, is the star of the classic movie South Pacific. Mitzi used to be nervous before going onstage. She would peek out from the curtain and look at individuals in her audience, the older man, his squirming grandchild, and the pregnant woman in the row behind them.

Mitzi would look intently at each one, imagine the challenges in their lives, and see their need to relax and escape for a while. Then, silently, she proclaimed a developing emotion to each one: I love you! I love you! I love you! Mitzi said when she was loving, she couldn’t be nervous. Mitzi Gaynor, years before, said the words that gave me comfort, and the Spirit within me brought them to mind when I so needed them.

I gave that particular talk to faculty, students, and administrators many years ago. Yet, even today, if I find myself self-conscious or afraid of judgment, I look for someone to care about, someone to love.

My prayer for you–

Today, be aware.
God’s Life floods your heart.
It’s always Raining Grace.

We all can enjoy great intimacy with God! Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite monk of the 17^th-century, was the chief cook of his order and was always in the kitchen. His position was perfect for him because he made it his project to “practice the presence of God.” At any given moment, he would remind himself that God was with him. He became incredibly good at the practice and enjoyed deep peace, comfort, and fullness of Life. His letters are collected in a profound little book, The Practice of the Presence of God.

We can develop our awareness of God through seeking Him. When God is our great desire, we find Him everywhere, even though He isn’t tangible to our senses. At one point in a child’s development, if an adult places a blanket over a favorite toy, the child will cry. As the little one grows in awareness, he’ll reach out and pull the blanket off, knowing the “invisible” toy is beneath it. The child has developed a new level of consciousness. Experience is a great teacher. As we persist in seeking our invisible God, we become more and more able to perceive His presence. We become conscious of reality—God truly IS here, NOW, with you, with me.

LIVING IN THE NOW

Our relationship with God allows us to remain primarily in the now. If we trust God, we won’t spend time visualizing a future without him. And if we allow God to complete us, as he longs to do, we don’t need the future to make us whole or happy or good enough. We can stop waiting to live. We are who we are—a child of the Master of the universe. What self-concept can be greater? More all-encompassing? More freeing?

If we find our identity in God, we don’t need the past to define us. In God, we become new. The hang-ups of our past self are just that, part of our past self. We’re given the dignity of being co-creators with God, moment by moment. God makes all things new, including us. In each unique moment, we can live our lives with power and with hearts wide open.

Not only does God live in our now, he makes our now liveable. Frequently, my now-moments are simply doing the dishes. I don’t know about you, but my dishes are not that fascinating. Yet if my now-moment is filled with God’s presence—which it is—my now is peace-filled, joy-filled, contented, no matter what I am doing.

Perhaps a few of these thoughts can help you “practice the presence” during your day, simply reminding yourself God is within you and you have your being within God. But don’t get attached to any thought or image. Let go and feel, experience, God’s presence.

When you realize it’s been quite a while since you’ve thought of God, ask for the grace to seek and find. Feel the glory of holding and being held by perfect Love. Right now. This moment—God is with you. You are on holy ground!

My prayer for you—

Today, be aware.
God’s Life floods your heart.
It’s always Raining Grace.