Last night when I laid my
head down on my pillow I was feeling a bit discouraged. So as I often do I
asked God to come to me and bring hope and compassion to me while I slept. Now
I know that when I ask God to meet me in the middle of the night, I am always
hoping that I well have sweet dreams and be refreshed when I wake. However,
that is usually not what actually happen. Very often I will have a dream that
wakes me up and then I am wide awake. Being awake is a good thing but I resist
when it is 2:00 AM. So I woke up from a dream that I was having and in the
dream I was sitting with a friend who was reading my journal and weeping over
my life. I have learned from these experiences that it is best to have a
conversation with God and ask for insight about my life rather than be
frustrated about my inability to fall back to sleep. This is another way that I
have been learning to listen to God in my life. As I lay there in bed listening
I felt the presence of the Lord and saw that the compassionate friend was a
representation of God. I was very comforted by this insight. I tend to not show
myself much compassion or allow others to either.
So what did this dream tell
me? As I reflected on how I felt in the dream it was clear that I felt, not
just listened to but really
heard. The friend in my dream was looking at my life with me and saw my pain. I
felt the love and compassion of God in that dream.
Then after much reflection I
realized that there was a song running through my head. This also happens often
to me during these times. I used to just get annoyed when this occurred because
it seems like background noise or racket. But since this has happen so often to
me, I have learned to listen instead and ask God why I would be hearing this
song right now. Maybe God is trying to tell me something.
The song that I heard was
written by, Paul Simon to his wife back in 1970 when they were apart from one
another. The name of the song is Why Don’t You Write Me. This statement is
repeated over and over in the song. I felt as if God were asking me to get up
and write my thoughts back to God. I had been listening and now it was time to
respond. I thought about what tomorrow would be like without rest so instead I
waited for sleep to come again.
Writing is hard work. I enjoy
writing because I gain insight and wisdom through the process. I resist writing
because it is hard work. I worry too much about whether anyone will read what I
write. So this blog is an act of obedience to answer the call of God saying to
me, why don’t you write me?
When I was a child my
parents had me say a prayer before bed:
Now I lay me down to
sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul
to keep.
If I should die before I
wake,
I pray the Lord my soul
to take.
God bless…
This is an okay prayer for a
small child but as we grow into maturity with God it is vital that we learn to
listen as well. God speaks to us in a variety of ways. God is everywhere! I so
long to hear from the Maker of my soul, and yet I am a lazy listener. Jesus
went around from town to town and spoke truth to the multitudes and when he was
finished he would say who ever has ears let them hear.
God give us eyes to see you, ears to hear you, and a heart that understands.
