God Signs

I find God's voice talking to each in the ordinary events, sights, smells, and sounds of the day.  I know there are those who talk of grand and wondrous events.  I am sure God is a part of those as well and the events everyone seems to ignore.  I find myself coming to the realization that spectacular events are the exception.  In my experience, God is never about exceptions.  God is engaged in your community and mine, getting dirty hands dealing with the messy realities of what it means to be alive. 
It is almost too easy to find one's self fixated on the spectacular.  When one listens to the prophetic voice telling us that “I'll set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billowing smoke, the sun turning black and the moon blood-red, before the Day of the Lord arrives, the Day tremendous and marvelous.”  (Acts 2.12)  One turns away from the wonder and beauty found in the moment at hand.  It is as if the noise, wind, and start contrasts demand our full and complete attention. 
It rained with abandoned last week in Southern California.  As I spoke of the area, visitors were struck by the warm sunny winter days.  I found myself trying to remind them that green hills, unending beds of wildflowers, and a natural softness everyone one looked may appear normal, but it is anything but.  Even if one begins to pay attention to the obvious, one will find that they have missed the still blue afternoon sky, the temporary softness rarely found in a winter sunset, and emerging midnight blues.  God was and is talking to us through it all.
I find myself discovering God conversations with every body movement.  I experience God whispers in the stillness of the afternoon sun dancing with shadows from God's gifts and man's creations.   Even as the night emerges, I find God's arms wrapping around the coldness that dominates my soul.  God is actively engaged.  God is here.  I will be present and diligent.