By Lori Carmody
When I read
this reflection by H.A. Williams, something exploded within me. I don’t audibly hear the voice of God however
sometimes when I am looking at a picture, reading a story, or am listening to a
song, I "know that I know" that I need to pay attention to what is in front
of me. It’s as though the Divine has a
message for me.
“Among the more unlikely
occasions when a fit of awareness came upon me was in the Arts Cinema in
Cambridge during the Judy Garland film A Star is Born. I had gone to the cinema because I felt
depressed and defeated. In the story of
the film Judy Garland had tried to make her mark three or four times and had
failed completely on each occasion. So
discouraged was she by this succession of failures that she decided to give up
all attempts at a stage career. At this
point an oddish somewhat matriarchal woman gave the defeated Judy Garland a
lecture on the necessity of perseverance.
The road to success was always strewn with failures, and therefore you
had to be in touch and believe in yourself so that you would get up and try
again however often you failed. The
words of this matriarchal figure came to me as the voice of God. They thrilled me. And in the thrill I was aware of God’s
presence with me in the cinema giving me new life and inspiring me with fresh
courage…The matriarch’s utterance undoubtedly verged on the corny. To speak to me deeply and powerfully by means
of it seemed to me grotesquely funny. I
couldn’t deny the reality of the experience, but it was precisely its reality
which made the occasion of it so hilarious.
There was no knowing where God would explode next. On my way home I looked about me for somebody
to slip on a banana skin. But nobody did.
God, apparently, had exploded enough for one day.” ~ Some
Day I’ll Find You by H. A Williams
Whether the
source from where we get our guidance is called God, Yahweh, our Higher Power,
energy bigger than ourselves, the Source of all, the Divine or the Universe, H.A.
Williams reminds us that “there is no knowing where God will explode
next.”
I believe this
is true. Don't you?
And yet, in
order to “hear” a message, our minds can’t be making plans so far in the future
that we aren’t aware of what is actually happening as it happens. (So often where I live) Nor can we be so caught up in our memories
that we lose sight of this day and this moment.
Present moment awareness is a spiritual practice that one never
completes this side of eternity. But there is is hope! We can take tiny steps forward each day to improve on our ability to focus on the moment.
I have been
reading Matthew Kelly’s new book Perfectly
YOURSELF. Much of it (so far) is
about present moment awareness. Here is a video from his daily Lenten
reflections on the topic.
There is no
knowing where God will explode next. May
we be present in the NOW so we don’t
miss the thrill!
Thanks for
reading.
Lori
#PresentMoment
#Now #PerfectlyYourself #Day18
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