Prayers

What You Were Thinking

by Terry Barlow
08/03/20
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Sometimes when close friends are spending time together there can be long lulls in the conversation. At such times one may look at the other as a 😃 smile passes over his or her countenance, or perhaps a grimace appears on the face, or there is a sudden shaking of the head back and forth as if to signify a yes or a no. The one who witnesses one of these expressions in the other might ask, "What are you thinking or what were you feeling just then?" And whatever was being thought or felt, or recalled may have little to do with the one asking other than that one happened to be present when the thought or feeling or recollection was experienced and facially expressed.
  So too in our relationship with God we don't only ask, "What do you want to say to me this morning or what do you want me to know or realize today?" We can also ask God, "What are you thinking in this moment?" Or. "What are you feeling just now?" The answers to those questions may have little to do with me at least at first. But as I seek God to share those thoughts or feelings I become more involved in them myself. Those thoughts and feelings are beyond or other than my own as God's thoughts and ways are above mine, but my interest in them begins to elevate me into a God realm higher and larger than mine or the one to which I am accustomed. In this process I am getting better acquainted with God and getting to know God better, but not around the personal issues of my own life. It is a knowledge of God that is more centered on Who God is and less centered on who I am, though one can lead to the other and is important too for that reason. Perhaps a time can come in our lives when the one must diminish so that the other can increase: a knowing of God more for Who He is in Himself and less for Who He is in relation to us, if that is possible.