Now I know how God must feel.

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

I opened my reading this morning with this, the reading for June 24th.

I have most invariably found that the very feeling which has seemed to me most private, most personal and, hence, most incomprehensible by others, has turned out to be an expression for which here is a resonance in many people. It has led me to believe that what is most personal and unique in each of us is probably the very element which would, if it were shared and expressed, speak most deeply to others.
Carl Rogers
Northumbria Community, Celtic Daily Prayer, (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishing Company, 2002), 698.

God nudged me as I read this quote by Carl Rogers.

We live in turbulent times; I have often said, "These are tough times to be a shrubbier." In case your wondering it is a quote from Monte Pythons "Search for the Holy Grail" more specifically it is a quote from Roger who is a shrubbier.

It seems as if people don't want to talk anymore. Oh don't get me wrong there are plenty of words going around, mostly shouting and yelling, diatribes and pontifications. But there isn't a lot of talking.

When I say talking I mean true conversation and communication, which takes a listening component.

Now I know how God must feel.

Prayer has turned into the current mode of communication.

People make a list of demands and or wishes, tell them to God and when they are done they say "Amen" and hang up their "God phone". They do not wait around to hear what God has to say. Heck, many times they do not even express what is most personal and unique in them which is probably the very element which would, if it were shared and expressed, speak most deeply to God.

I am on the "Y" DIG committee. DIG is an acronym for "Diversity Inclusion Global". Many of our meetings, which by the way, are made up of well meaning, loving people who are trying to make the world a better place, are taken up with diatribes and pontifications. If we could only get to the place where we share what is most personal and unique in each of us, the very element which would, if it were shared and expressed, speak most deeply to others.

We are taking a good hard look at ourselves and want to listen to others share their experience, their hurts, their frustrations, hopes and desires.

My prayer is, "Lord, help us to listen. Help us to listen to your nudgings and whisperings so that we may become better listeners to others. Help us become the people you want us to be."

Maybe if we become good enough at listening, we can create a safe enough place where people feel safe enough to share that what is most personal and unique in them and is probably the very element which would, if it were shared and expressed, speak most deeply to others.

Something to ponder.

Blessings,
Roger