You know sometimes I pray for God to clue me in on his plans for me. I pray that this will be resolved or that may happen. I often pray for my friends and family to be taken care of. But most often I pray for guidance. The ability to discern what God wants me to do, what he wants me to say. During this time of COVID-19 and isolation I have noticed that there are a few less voices in my world. I am not meeting with people like I used to before COVID-19. I still do some phone calls and some video chats. But it is not the same visit, nothing like just being with a person. No agenda, no time frame, just letting the conversation flow and not worrying about the outcome. 

Before COVID-19 I found myself succumbing to the wiles of the cell phone, of social media and FB games and music and podcasts. All of these things are ways we gather information as well, and that information may contain a message from God. There are people in this world who are hermits and spend days, months and years in isolation. I guess they are more in tune to what the natural world offers them as messages from God. 

Sometimes I find myself praying but then not taking the time to really listen to what is surrounding me. 

I am asking God for guidance and help, but I am turning off the volume on all the ways in which God speaks to me. God may also put a thought in my head, but I am not following through with my thoughts. 

I sometimes find myself to so eager to speak, that I am not paying attention to the people who are talking to me. In this time of the great political divide that seems to infest our culture. My listening only happens until I can find something or think of some way to rebut what has just been said! My mind is so full of negativity, that negativity is all I hear! Listening, really listening, takes time and patience to discern what the other person is trying to communicate. Good communication requires other components than our ears and our mouths. Listening is very different from just hearing. You hear with your ears, but you only truly listen with your heart! 

We know this because at times a poem, a bird’s beautiful melody, the laugh of a young child, a song or even words of another can bring us to deep emotional places. This is when we are truly listening with our hearts. This is where God speaks to you! The finale song of the film “The Color Purple” says it all …” Maybe God is tryin’ to tell you something.’’ 

May you walk through this day and hear the voice of your God speaking to you. From the hills, the wind, the voices of children, your FB page — Maybe God is trying to tell you something! 

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Lance Smith is pastor at Zwingli United Church of Christ in Monticello.