Ay, there's the rub. Don't pay attention to your dreams, unless, that is, they are sent from God. But how do you know? How do you know what is coming from God and what is coming from your own ego? Or is just mindless chatter? Some of the accounts in the Bible suggest that some of the prophets and followers of God written about actually heard a voice from outside of themselves. There are many stories about the voice of God breaking through and confirming Jesus' sonship. I don't know about you, but I've never heard the voice of God that way, and I'm not sure I know anyone else who has either. And yet, I do believe I discern something of the way God is calling me to live, the direction God is asking me to go. So how does one do that? How does one listen for the voice of God and how do you know God is speaking to you?
Elijah discovers, in his cave, that the voice of God is not in the wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire, but in the sound of "sheer silence" -- other translations say "a still, small voice." So, the first clue is to be still, to sit in stillness and let the stillness speak. All the contemplative practices are designed to help us discern the call of the Spirit through the clutter of our minds and the cacophony of our daily lives, but one must take the time to quiet down, to allow one's awareness to sift through all the other voices in our heads -- the voices of family and friends, the voices of the culture, and the voices of our own ego, which usually runs by a totally different set of values than our soul does. Self-preservation is the ego's primary goal. All of those things muddy the waters, but a contemplative practice like lexio divina (which is similar to what I do in these meditations), contemplative prayer, also called centering prayer or meditation, writing a sacred icon, and there are many others. In fact, almost any activity can become a contemplative practice if you approach it with awareness and a slow quiet attention. Brother Lawrence, who wrote "Practicing the Presence of God" regularly speaks of washing dishes as a contemplative experience.
Once we've slowed down, sifted through the layers of ego and the other voices competing for attention in our minds, and entered into a state of quiet inner stillness, then sometimes we can hear the voice of God. Maybe it's a voice, or maybe it's a word, or maybe it's even an image, but that is the place where we can be touched. And even then, can we really be sure? How can we really know? Thomas Merton expresses it beautifully in a well known prayer that he wrote:
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact
that I think that I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me
through the right road though I may know
nothing about it.
Therefore, I will trust you always though I may
seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you
will never leave me to face my peril alone.
Prayer: Dear God, As I struggle to discern the path before me, help me to stay focused on my desire to please you and to do your will. Help me to trust in your divine guidance even in the midst of confusion and uncertainty. Amen.
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