I pray for the wisdom of the Saints to understand that when God communicates with me, I need to listen and hear and respond…
The other day, someone who is dear to me, asked a question of me in an open forum. When she asked this question, I answered it truthfully and honestly and directly. I did not really consider any hidden agenda or motive behind the question – I only considered the question at face value.
Later this person told me that she was disappointed in my lack of support of her, and she felt that my answer – in that public forum – had somehow diminished her authority in front of those other people.
I was completely taken by surprise. I had not considered the question anything other than a plain-faced question – asking one thing in order to understand the outcome. However, clearly for this person, the question was a way for her to influence others to change their minds.
I have been thinking about that situation – not because it was anything dramatic, because it certainly was not, but because the miscommunication was so unintentional and so detrimental.
You see, I had no intention at all of upsetting this person, and yet – through my complete misunderstanding of her communication and agenda – I managed to do just that…
And that reminds me of God – and my own misunderstanding of Him. How many times in my life when I witness or experience something very unfair do I fall apart and think to myself, well, where is God? In the past, when bad times happen – when my children are trying me and I am worried about their future, or when my husband upsets me, or when my friend annoys me – I used to think to myself, well God, where are you? What are you doing in this? But now I just have to wonder, whether all along I was simply misunderstanding His communications to me?
After all, when I consider the case of that person and me, it is very clear that there was a significant miscommunication. And I had only the best intentions for this other person, and she only saw the bad in what I did. So, imagine Our Blessed Lord, who has ONLY PERFECT and infallibly good intentions with respect to me (and with respect to all the world) and instead I look at all the GOOD and call it bad. Instead of seeing His communications to me in the light of their intention and their infinite wisdom, I see them through my own weak insecurities. And when I look at them all wrong, I cannot understand the message that He is communicating with me.
When I see something fail, I need to understand that this is God’s way of re-directing me. It is a clear communication from Him. When my greatest desire is left unfulfilled, that is a clear communication from God.
And today, I pray for the wisdom of the Saints to understand that when God communicates with me, I need to listen and hear and respond…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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