It’s true; God speaks. If we’re awake and listening, we will hear just what is needed, even when what is needed is silence.
I (Clare) spent Thursday night in Detroit hanging out with my 91-year-old mom on the way to a silent retreat in Nebraska. Mom recently found her mom’s poem and wanted me to read it to her before I left. I had no idea God was about to speak.
“I am always mislaying nowadays
my glasses, my pen, a book.
They were here a moment ago until the malice possessed them.
I will find them perhaps where I left them or perhaps never find them at all.
But there are more important things mislaid everywhere:
Glimpses of beauty, moments of pity, sudden recollections, intonations, the shadow of clouds, half-heard sounds.
Passing, passing, already beyond reach
lost while I look for my glasses. (Grandma Lehla Delmar unedited)
Grandma’s Lehla’s poem guided me into 48 hours of silence. I found things I mislaid in my soul in this season of both wonderful and painful too-muchness.
Yesterday I returned home to conversations with Scott where we found mislaid questions, encouragement, saucy and sweet words that revealed faith, hope, and love. Amazing what a simple poem and 48 hours in silence can do for the soul.
Do you have spiritual practices that guide you into the gift of finding what you’ve mislaid?
©scottandclareloughrige2019