REASSURANCE

Who is life doesn't need this? The problem is finding it. It might be easy to find if reassurance was as plentiful as criticism, but it isn't.

But despite that problem, we do face the fact that with God, he can touch us at times with a hug when we are in a quandary over some path we think we are suppose to follow. That kind of assurance comes from different sources and in different forms.

The problem can be in listening. That requires being able to hear with the soul and not just the ears.

How does one listen with the soul? It is often when we have that inner sense from some source that is gives us that feeling a given moment is from the Lord.

God's spirit doesn't have to work very hard to do this with people who are in touch with his presence. Sadly a lot are not who think they are.

Going to a house of worship doesn't guarantee you'll hear the sounds of spiritual laughter. It would be wonderful if it did. But sometimes the clanging voice of self consumed minds gets in the way.

The love to bang their symbols and shake their tambourines of "look at how righteous I am" so they can impress you. Which is hardly all that helpful when you are filled with too much chaos and questions that so desperately are needed to be answered.

Such spiritual buffoon antics is not helpful. Might impress some, but it doesn't heal or answer what is burning in the heart.

Still, like clinging to an addictive habit, we seem to need to go back to familiar places at times to seek if the results would be different. That might happen if God is truly involved. But too often I don't think it is.

Instead, we find the routine remains constant. We gravitate to the familiar because it is safe.

Why we think the outcome will change is hard to say. However, that is so often the reality.

The only thing that truly makes a difference is when we stop thinking on a natural level to a spiritual need. It means feeling the wind from the Holy Spirit touching us and guiding us to where God wants us to go.

He leads us where his voice will truly be heard. We just have to be prepared to look in places that are his choice.

And God has such a wonderful way of surprising us for the sake of enlightenment in that regard. It is just a question of whether we will see it when the time comes.