Do you hear his voice?

Over the years I have taught a class I called Prayer 101. The first session is a review of common forms of prayer like Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication (Intercession and Petition). The second session focuses on how to pray for one another more effectively. The last three sessions will be a combination of lecture on and practice of meditative and contemplative prayer. In English this means learning ways to quiet our minds enough to listen to God and hear God speak to us.

Morton Kelsey, an Episcopal priest and author, tells this story on himself. Earlier in his life there was a time when he kept waking up in the middle of the night and was not able to get back to sleep. Concerned, he finally asked his therapist what might be going on. His therapist suggested it might be God and that the next time he woke up in the middle of the night, he should get up, put on his robe, go downstairs, sit in his comfy chair and say, “God, if that’s you, I’m listening.” To his surprise, when he tried it, Morton heard God say, “Yes, it is me.” Morton then asked, “God why do you keep waking me up in the middle of the night?” Again to his surprise, he heard God say, “Morton, you are so busy during the day, this is the only time I could get your attention!”

My thought is this, why wait for God to take drastic action to get your attention? Learn some simple skills to improve your ability to listen to God. As an added bonus these skills can also be applied to human relationships. Think of the possibilities.