How You Can Hear God's Voice (again)

"Why isn't God speaking to me?"  I was venting to a friend of mine a couple of years ago about how everything felt silent on the God front.  He was kind, and offered the best answer he had.  He said he wasn't sure I was right.  He wasn't sure God ever stopped talking to me.

In the moment it was not the kind of advice I was wanting.  I was looking for a technique or some trick to have an ecstatic experience that would spark the divine inspiration.  I didn't want to hear the simple, profound truth God hid in the words of my friend.  God was speaking to me.  God is speaking to me, but that's not it.

God is speaking to you too.  One way or another, God is speaking.  If nothing else, God is using creation to call out to you.  The problem is not God's voice, it's our ears.  While we are sitting around waiting to pass by a burning bush that is not being consumed, God is trying to talk to us through the unwashed dishes in our sink and the dew on the ground in the morning.

How do you hear it?  It begins by practicing being aware of the presence of God.  God is always present, and keeping that reality in the front of our mind is the beginning of being able to listen. That's the next step: listen.  

By "listen" I mean, with an awareness that you are a spiritual being and God is present, consider your world.  Think about your surroundings.  Listen to the music.  Watch the movie, and notice where the spiritual intersects with your life.

Sometimes its a lyric that describes how you see God. Sometimes its two paths diverging in the woods that reminds you of a brilliant poem, your high school english teacher and how much you love being in nature.  

If you can listen, if you can let go of the idea that the voice of God has to happen in some heightened emotional state and be more aware of God's presence,  I bet you will discover that God has been speaking to you more than you thought.

Question for the Comments: Where is it easiest for you to hear God?