Morning? Evening? Or maybe, you find time in the middle of the day to spend with God, when you meditate and pray. Or maybe, you’re like me who finds that time, most of the time, except when my day is so filled that… But wait, I seem to recall Martin Luther saying when his schedule was so very busy, he doubled his time with God.
Well, I’m no Martin Luther! Nor did I set out to write a confessional essay, about how undisciplined I am in my time with God. In fact, I wanted to write about daily devotionals and those times when God and my better angels speak.
You know, that last point is true. God and my/your better angels speak to us, if we would but listen. Oh, we might say it’s just a small voice within speaking to you and me, maybe we chalk it up to our conscience or perhaps it’s a recollection of comments by I loved ones, long ago.
Oh, yes, the voices are always there. God nudges us outside of our being that seems to move us where we never thought we would go. Perhaps, like me, you call it inspiration or creativity. It makes no difference, in my mind those thoughts or voices that are outside our being, are voices of our better angels, our Lord speaking to us.
A couple of years ago my daughter sent me a video of Elizabeth Gilbert (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) speaking to a graduate class in creative writing. She explained that she believes that all the works of art, or music or writing, those great works that have been given accolades throughout history, and all those that are totally unknown that may reside on yellowing paper tucked into a notebook somewhere, all had their Genesis outside of our being. Her own inspiration she refers to as her “muse”. I rather like that, but it doesn’t change the fact that, in my mind, it is simply God communicating.
Gilbert says that “There’s a crack (or cracks) in everyone…that’s how the light of God gets in.”
It’s that light of God that triggers the inspiration that leads to art, music or interesting writing. It’s not the artist or the musician or the author, alone, it’s the mix of those with that light from God. Things that we do, how we live our lives, how we reach out to others and how we respond to others when they reach out to us, that is all part of the mix.
Back to devotionals and how we welcome God into our lives each day. When I was 19 and in the army, I learned a bad habit that I have been unable to break. Most every morning I’m awake at 4 or 4:30 a.m., even without reveille. Most of the time it’s not especially bothersome, and I have come to realize that early morning is my best time to spend with God.
Since 1983 I have been using Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for his Highest, first the original, then, eight years ago, I switched to an updated version. Then I began to add others. Verse-A-Day, Our Daily Bread, Jesus Calling. All speak to me in one way or another and I often find the thoughts and the words strike me where I live at that moment. My friend likes Joyce Meyer‘s book The Confident Woman and she has often turned to Billy Graham’s Daily Devotional.
Regardless of what you might read in your daily devotionals, those words may touch you and shed God’s light on your lives. The better question may be ‘what do we do with God’s thoughts, words, the inspiration that shines through those cracks of ours?’ That’s a personal question and we each have our own response.
Some of you may know Pastor Robert Morris, who has a program on Trinity Network Sunday evening. Recently he talked about the difference between God’s creation and what God has made. I’m not sure I fully understand the difference, except that God’s creation, such as “Let there be light!”, is different from what God has made. What God has made, or will make, often comes through the gifts and the graces that flow from him, unbidden and unceasing, to us. God makes whatever he makes, with our minds, our voices and our hands. Our role is to take the light that shines through our cracks and let it reflect on others as we live these lives that God has given us.
In her travels, Elizabeth Gilbert spent time with a guru who suggested that she “look for God like a man with his hair on fire, looks for water.” I am not sure about that, but I do pray that each of us has ears and sensors to receive those wee small nudges from God that comes to us constantly, whether we are paying attention or not! In Deuteronomy 6:4, there is a Hebrew word, Shema, that means a special kind of listening. It’s listening and responding. May we all develop that kind of hearing and acting.
This past year I wrote a manuscript that sits on my desk waiting for a publisher to show some interest. Never in a million years would I ever undertake a 65-thousand-word story, and yet, there it is. But, that’s not the important point. What is really amazing about this manuscript, is that I wrote about 20 percent of it over the course of that year, just filling in between God’s wonderful ideas that filtered through those cracks of mine, often inspired through my daily readings.
I’m still writing and reading. That’s the thing about God’s light, God’s inspiration, it just keeps coming. I don’t know where it’s going to lead, for you or for me, but just hang on and enjoy the ride!
God bless.
Stan Escott
