Listen, you can almost hear it. Do not focus on the cars passing on the street below. Ignore the noise of the generators or construction equipment that buries anything natural. Try to see through the train or subway the rushes on, always just a bit late, always just a bit tattered. Listen around and through all these things and more; listen for what fills your mind when you are just thinking.
It is amazing that even here it is never the same for two individuals. In my own experience, I always find a song expressing my longing for the Divine.
When I read Solomon’s observation, “The evil of bad people leaves them out in the cold; the integrity of good people creates a safe place for living.” (Proverbs 14.32), I know it rings true. One could disagree; but walk with me back to the space where each of has been at one moment or another in our lives.
When I follow the god called self, my room dramatically changes color and sound. I find the warmth of acceptance and mercy replace by the cold, harsh realities of competition and survival of the best. I listened for the sounds that I long to express to a God full of compassion and grace, yet all I hear is the drum beat calling me into battle. Hope is replace by arrogance and even that soon wears thin. The nurture and recovery I came looking for is covered with themes of discipline, conformity, and rules. I look anxiously for the door out of here; the harsh, cold, and unending thirst for something more driving me to seek something better.
I turn and find God sitting on an upside down can of paint in overalls. Warm colors are splattered everywhere! Complete and total acceptance flies all over me. Compassion and mercy cover the floor, no matter where I step I am in the mix. Then I realize that I am already immersed in the sounds of God; real, vibrant, and life changing. This is your space with God. Anytime, any place.
