Waste Reduction

Words satisfy the soul as food satisfies the stomach;

the right words on a person's lips brings satisfaction. Proverbs 18: 20

I am struck by the preciousness of the words God gives me any time I am willing to stop and listen. They are precious because they speak to my specific situation; they are not generic words. The "words" vary from single words to paragraphs, from actual words to mental images, from a sense of encouragement to gentle admonishment, from declarations of love to exclamations of love. However, it pains me to say that, as important and exciting and inspiring and encouraging as His words are, I tend to forget about them often within only a few hours of hearing them!!

Sometimes I whine (really?) about God not "answering"me when I pray, but when I look back over my journal, I see that He has been faithful and I have been forgetful. I wonder about this faith-amnesia from which I seem to suffer. My forgetfulness is wasteful: I am not treasuring, pondering, or acting on the words from God that I receive.

As our cities and societies adopt various environmental waste reduction strategies, we are encouraged to think twice about the deeper value of an object (in purchasing it as well as in getting rid of it), and about the harm caused by discarding it carelessly. I want to adopt such a "waste reduction" program for God's words to me (and words in general for that matter. I have some thoughts on the words we share with one another and their importance and power, but I'll save that for another time!)

When I begin to recognize the value and preciousness of God's words, to truly appreciate them, I collect them. I gather them. I write them on notepapers to remind me of them, in my journal to solidify them, on my hand to perceive them, in my heart to treasure them. I want them to feed me again later when I am hungry for His words. But I cannot just gather them to hoard them, to stash them away someplace safe. I also need to act on them or respond to them: in love, gratitude, service, trust. The response is what will help me to remember them (just as in teaching, we remember better not what we have simply heard or seen, but what we have done).

A friend - my spiritual director, I think it was - suggested to me that God's words to us were like the manna from heaven that the Israelites collected and ate in the desert: it needed to be picked fresh every day, savoured and enjoyed, trusting that there would be fresh manna the next day.

Are you receiving manna daily from the Divine Presence? If not, on what are you feeding? Spiritual Direction is a great way to practise listening for God's words to you, and to notice, receive and experience His care and love for you! Join me! Visit www.karenperinbam.ca for more information and contact details.