“God is closer than you think” - and me
Briefly, the book talks about how you can train yourself to be aware of God, more specifically the Holy Spirit, in everything you do. I have been having a hard time at work - as we all do - and I pretty much had to become seriously aware of God 24/7 in order to stop myself from handing in my notice. This was especially difficult as I felt that God led me to this job! By listening to what God is doing, which is an intuitive process that requires practise and patience, I was able to remember the reason I went into teaching - God inspired me.
When I started my new job in September, I had keenly got on with my new job and became exhausted with endless discipline issues and stupid admin tasks (it is hard to find the teaching some days!). It had not occurred to me that the school’s agenda and God’s agenda for me in the school might be different. The school’s agenda is pretty much for me to become a cross between a performing seal and wonderwoman.
Ortberg obviously doesn’t just write “listen to God more” in this book. The book contains a wealth of listening practises, which I have found to be crucial rituals. For example, I now try and start my day by doing 3 things:
- Acknowledging that I can’t get through the day without God
- Giving each thing I am anxious about for that day to God (especially small things that I think I can control on my own - thank you very much!)
- Asking God to be with me all day. He is anyway, but I forget He is.
I am really not a 3 point person at all, but I have found it immensly helpful. In addition, I don’t just go through this ritual when I’m going to work, but also on my days off. This has meant that I have had amazing experiences with God on Saturdays. Once I went to a gallery and then for a walk in the woods on my own - where I saw a deer - in Bracknell! Typically, I spend my saturdays with other people or shopping for things I can’t afford, not seeking God in the woods.
Practising listening to God has changed me and I want to find spaces where I can really sense God. I keep meeting people randomly as well. People who know God well and people who don’t. I sometimes feel pressure that I ought to be talking to them about God, but I’m not sure if it is God or Christians telling me to do this. I need to keep practising how to listen because there is a thin line between God’s timing preventing me from Bible bashing and my own fears. I don’t just want to be a talker - What do you think?
I think the ‘thin line between God’s timing preventing me from bible bashing and my own fears’ is an interesting one. I think, as you say, it’s a question of learning how to speak when necessary by practising listening to God. The danger of speaking too soon is that the message of the words can be contradicted by their insensitive delivery. On the other hand, I think it’s more common that fear of making mistakes and fear of rejection, sometimes accompanied by an impulse to protect ones own interests, holds us back.
I think we need to be prepared to be bolder when it comes to speaking the truth. Our personal witness and perspective could be extremely significant to someone else, and the basis of our fears could be false.