Dear All of Us,
God talks to me.
God talks to me a lot.
And oh what I HEAR!
Now before you offer to drive me
over to Shaddy Grove Sanitarium
for a few sessions of shock treatments,
let me save you both
the bother and the gas.
My shrink/spiritual counselor
assures me I'm no nut case,
nor some sort of misty mystic,
just because I hear
God talking to me.
Au contraire,
it's one heck of a gift.
A backstory for a dear example:
My almost four-year-old
Grand Son, Ollie,
started Sunday School
for the first time ever last Fall.
The first week it was
less than stellar.
It was scary.
That quickly and
delightfully changed.
Scary went to stellar
because of Mr. Mason,
Ollie's new Sunday School teacher.
He is a twenty some law student
and he is magic with kids.
Ollie loves Mr. Mason and
Ollie is good with Sunday School
because of Mr. Mason.
Come January, Mr. Mason
had to return to campus
in Richmond for the semester.
Ollie misses him
and happily is good with
Mr. Josh, the new teacher.
That's the background.
Here's the "hearing."
Last Sunday we're driving
home from church.
From the back seat,
rather calmly,
rather matter-of-factly,
Ollie says:
"Mr. Mason came to visit us
at Sunday School today."
After a reflective pause,
"That was like a present."
What purity.
What perception.
What love.
What "A word from The Lord."
What a God Gift to hear.
God is sheer Goodness.
God speaks that Goodness,
that Godness,
in many tongues, tones,
tempos, accents, settings
and vocabularies.
God speaks Goodness
through
- an almost four old
- a Spirit Sparkling
Sunday School teacher
- occurrences
- nature
- the arts
- the holy scriptures
- wise advice and counsel
- good example
- a clear intuition
- loyal friendships
- the cries of the
abused and needy
- a Maine Lobster dinner
- community prayer and service
- Spring's first daffodil
- good example
- and...
We hear God
with all five senses,
intellect, psyche and soul.
We hear God
in the noise of the combine
at harvest.
We hear God
in the wisdom of sages.
We hear God
in the crashing cascade
of the waterfalls.
We hear God
in the staggered
last breaths of the dying.
We hear God
in the "Why is the sky blue?"
of a child.
We hear God
in the voicings for social justice.
We hear God
in the weave of a Persian carpet.
We hear God
in the trying ways and words
of the disturbed and disturbing.
We hear God
in the "I want you"
of our lover.
We hear God
in the intimate quiet of
door-closed-prayer.
We hear God
in a delicious
Chicken Cacciatore dinner.
We hear God
in..., well, in all of
God's surround sound.
To hear God best and fully
we turn off the psychic static
of media interference.
To hear God best and fully
we give our tongue a rest.
To hear God best and fully
we slow twitchy mind and
frenetic doings to sensitive
settings and listen.
In our hearing, God so wants
to hear back from us
- in our love and prayer
- in our course correctives
- in our service and care
of people and place
- in our actions speaking
"The word of the Lord"
that we are
God is talking to us.
It's ours's to give
"HEAR"
and response.
******
A PERSONAL NOTE
Last week's blog was
more than challenging
for me to write and
I fully expect
for you to read.
To write it meant the risk
for a lot of turn offs
and turn aways.
And there were more than a few,
some dear friends.
I am more pastor than prophet
in makeup and temperament.
Writing a prophetic challenge
sure was exactly that for me
- a challenge.
I expect it was every bit that
for all who stayed and
considered it in heart
with The Holy Spirit.
Many from many
different homelands
stayed with it.
Particularly notable was
the very large cohort
from my homeland
here in the USA.
I am exhausted.
I am grateful.
God spoke to me
through you
- a confirmation and
a consolation.
Thank you all
as we seek to hear
God talk to us.
In Love
John Frank
If you missed last week's
prophetic challenge,
TRANSPORT,
just scroll way down
beneath this week's posting.
WELCOME
ONE and ALL
NEXT ONLINE POSTING
Tuesday morning/afternoon
East Coast USA time
March 25, 2025
NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY
Friday
March 28, 2025
Sign Up
top right above
Please continue to share
frankly speaking
Thanks!
LAST FIVE POSTINGS
AVAILABLE
by
scrolling down
below
this posting
Thanks for this time together.
See you next week,
Love to all.
God Bless.
John Frank
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
******
