Still small voice

Put aside ‘roommate’ to hear God’s words

I was facilitating a retreat on "Leading With Soul" for chaplains in Canada. One of the topics was listening for God's guidance through such spiritual practices as contemplative prayer.

During the question-and-answer time, a frail woman in her 90s named Mary shared, that two years earlier, she had fallen and developed traumatic brain injury. She said, that since that injury, she hears voices and wanted to know if she was hearing God's voice or if she was crazy.

I'm not a therapist or a minister, and her question stopped me in my tracks for a minute. Then I felt guided to say that it's very easy to tell the difference. If the voice is for good, then it's God's voice. If it is not for good, then it might be our own inner voice.

Mary's face lit up, and she just glowed. She said, "Oh, the voice is always for good." I assured her that it was God's voice then, and she told me during the break that my words lifted a huge burden off her shoulders.

But her question raises the issue of whose voice are we listening to, and how do we discern God's voice?

I am taking an online course called "Living From a Place of Surrender," with a Buddhist teacher named Michael Singer. He teaches us to identify the "voice inside your head" and to begin to observe it. This voice talks constantly, providing a running commentary on everything we see and do.

In his book The Untethered Soul, Singer suggests we think of this voice as a "noisy roommate" who just won't stop talking. He suggests, that when we get tired of all the inner chatter, we imagine taking the "noisy roommate" out of our head and sitting her on the couch next to us, allowing for a few moments of peace and silence. The "noisy roommate" is NOT the voice of God or our higher self. When we put the "noisy roommate" aside for just a few minutes, we create a space for God's still small voice to come through.

This is a difficult practice when the voice inside my head is full of judgment about myself, others and situations I don't like. The God of my understanding is a God of love, not judgment, so this annoying voice inside my head that makes me think I am better than some people, or that feels shame because I don't measure up to others, is just the "noisy roommate" doing her thing. In my best moments, I can label this self-talk as "judgment." I put the "noisy roommate" aside for a moment to see if something more loving can replace that judgment. That's when God's still small voice often guides me to just listen and be present. Sometimes miracles come from this.

NAN Religion on 08/18/2018

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