It became clear to me during the course of talking with my client that if we have a very precise, narrow or anthropomorphic idea of what God's communication is like, then a great deal of communication can occur that will go right by us. It reminded me of the old joke about the person in a huge flood who goes up on the roof of their house and prays for God to deliver them. First a person comes by floating on a big log and offers space on the log. The person says no feeling the log is too small and too risky. Then someone comes by in a row boat and offers help - no the roof dweller says, feeling confident that God will save them. Finally a helicopter come by and lowers a rope, but the roof dweller again refuses feeling the rope and the ascent to the ‘copter is way to scary. Eventually the person drowns, and when they go to Heaven they rather reproachfully say to God: "I prayed for your help. Why did you not save me?" God replies: "I sent you a log, a boat and a helicopter - what more did you want?"
I wonder if we do not often missed God's communication in much the same way, not seeing it in the "ordinary" or human language it may come in. It has been both a joy and a frustration in my life to try to understand the synchronistic or metaphorical way God may sometimes speak to us. But if you ask people to tell examples of synchronistic events that have happened in their life - often at very critical turning points, some of the stories will actually send shivers up your spine.
I have always been both fascinated and horrified at the same time by the stories after 9/11 of people who were suppose to be in the Towers that day, or on those flights who weren't: the person who didn't go to work that day because he was taking his son to his first day of kindergarten, the woman who broke the heel on her high heels and stopped to have them fixed, the person who went out on an errand, the person who was fired the week before - or the person who "missed their plane" or more tragically the man who was on the plane because he rescheduled to spend the night before at home with his wife for her birthday. Are these all simply coincidences or did Spirit speak to each of those people calling them to certain choices they made that day or week?
A friend of mine's young dog chewed on her glasses scratching them. The only way she could get a new pair was to have another examination done, the first in four year - only to discover that she had severe sight threatening Glaucoma. Coincidence, or Spirit speaking? Another friend happened by a series of unusual turn of events to be at a meeting with a man who sold supplemental health insurance. She heard his pitch for a special cancer rider which could be added to your policy which paid all uncovered co-pays and lost wages if you had treatment for cancer. Something in her just nudged her to do it. 6 months later she was diagnosed with colon cancer; the policy made the different for her as a single person going through 9 months of chemotherapy. Serendipity, or the Holy One whispering within?
Some denominations tell stories of the faithful following God's direction so literally that they would come to an intersection in their horse and buggy and wait until they sensed which direction to go next. John Woolman, a famous Quaker, journaled of feeling called to go to Barbados to preach against slavery, buying the ticket on a ship and traveling all the way to the port and then at the port getting a "message" that he had completed what God had required of him and turning around going home! Madness or faithfulness to a message received?
Have you ever felt sort of driven to tell another person something? Not because you were trying to persuade them of a given point or tell them what to do, but just felt it was important to communicate some information, inspiration or encouragement to another? This is an almost daily experience for me. Sometimes the words are sort of shrugged off with a sort of "oh right, whatever", but more often they are received with great gratitude and even sometimes with a "thank you I have been really thinking about this, looking for this communication." This I think is an example of how God taps us on the shoulder and asks us to minister to each other, therefore using our mouths as the vessels that deliver the messages.
