Submitted by Rev. Dr. Diana Leaf, Chaplain
Your Teacher will not hide any longer, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” –Isaiah30.20b-21 (NRSV, adapted)
Sometimes, so it’s said, a cigar is just a cigar.
Sometimes a rainbow is just a brilliant array of water droplets and sunlight dancing in the sky.
But what about the bow God put in the sky for Noah and his family?
What about the burning bush that caught Moses’s attention?
Or the blinding light that knocked Saul to the ground?
Or the empty tomb?
In other words, how can we know when something is of Spirit?
How do we distinguish God’s tender voice from our own desires?
Who’s to say if a certain unexpected situation is a God thing or mere happenstance?
What if, as some have said, God comes to us disguised as our life?
Are you struggling to know which way to go?
Are you searching for meaning and purpose?
We can hope and pray for a sign, or . . . we can simply read the holy love notes that carpet our path or notice the garden-variety graces that fill our days.
“Listen to your life,” said Frederick Buechner.
Pay attention, that you might recognize the wonder, that you might receive the gift, that on any given day you might find yourself face-to-face with the God who could be disguised as an enemy, a problem, an ache, a joy, or . . . your life.
Listening and looking, we may come to trust that God’s love is in it all.