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.
Books by Sally
