Faith – WIDE OPEN PLANES

I see light everywhere

About a year and half ago I was at a retreat and was led through a meditation using the mantra, “Be still and Know that I am God”.

During the meditation I had the most beautiful vision in which I was following a whisper of a voice through a vast landscape of different terrains. Some beautiful and enjoyable, others harsh and bleak, and others dark and foreboding. I never caught up with the source of the voice and so was constantly chasing/following it hither and thither.

The pursuit ended on a high mountain top, with a clear day and stunning vista. I heard the whisper again behind me and as I turned round to look for its source I was immediately transported to another realm, or given a different perspective.

There before me lay the journey I had taken/life I had lived in an overlayed image, and I realised I was looking into the face of God/being itself. We met face-to-face, and in that infinite moment I knew as I was fully known.

As I sat in my seat nearing the end of the meditation, as my attention returned back to this physical plane I realised how I had just felt. I had been transported outside of myself, I felt expanded, huge, floating in unfathomable space and at peace. It was glorious.

Sometimes seeing ‘light’ in the world around us can be a case of being in the right place at the right time and don’t blink or you’ll miss a glimpse of flash, a bit like pursuing whispers. We can easily question our senses, did I really hear or see anything. If the whispers and light are ones pointing out, or emanating love, life and hope I believe they are real and they are from God. We would all be the better for pursuing things like that real or not and so would the world. Believe it or not there are whole communities of people who believe that this is one of the main aims of human life and they call themselves churches.

A defining story

Have you ever stopped to think about what narrative defines you and the way you view the world?

I recently read this quote from one of my favourite teachers Franciscan monk Fr. Richard Rohr; “How we begin is invariably how we end and how we proceed. Our creation story is important.”

This set my mind of whirring about the impact of narratives and I had to write some of my thoughts down. Narratives can be such powerful drivers in shaping the way we interact with life, people and the world. Many of us unwittingly carry negative narratives around with us and we don’t realise how they can completely dictate our course in life.

As a perfectionist I have constant critical, negative self-talk going on in my head no matter what I am doing. For as long as I can remember that voice has been trying to, with some success dictate how I perceive life. Trying to undermine my enjoyment, my freedom to express, my willingness and ability to let others in.

Over the last year or so I have started to invest time in understanding perfectionism and the impact it has on people. During this time I have become more and more aware of this voice than I ever was before. I began to realise how many elements of my life it had secreted itself into and the impact that had on me.

Fortunately as a follower of Jesus and having grown up around this ‘Jesus-culture’ I have also had an overwhelmingly positive narrative spoken into my life at the same time. A narrative that starts with the words; ‘God created……and saw that it was good’ (my paraphrase) and leaves the ending open with a promise that; ‘there is now no separation between God and humanity’ (again my paraphrase)

And so despite these two competing narratives vying for my attention on a daily basis, while I can’t prevent myself hearing either I do have a choice about which I believe and allow to define my reality.

So I would like to modify Richard Rohr’s above statement to say this instead; ‘How we choose to begin is invariably how we end and how we proceed.’

So what is your narrative? And how does it define you?

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”

Genesis 1:31

Do you perceive it?

It is interesting the range of responses there are to the term ‘faith’, many people have honestly told me that they don’t possess ‘a faith’; in terms of feeling like they belong to any religious group in particular.

A helpful definition for faith could be; ‘A belief/trust/confidence in someone or something, based on a spiritual conviction rather than ‘concrete proof’’. A deep knowing about something rather being able to see it.

I believe many people, whether consciously or subconsciously understand or perceive that there is some illusive, mysterious yet discernible pattern to life and all that comes with it. For Christians and people of many other faiths this ‘discernible pattern’ is God-at-work.

The Bible repeatedly reminds us that the method in which God operates in the world is love. Through all of life’s moments; the exhilarating highs and the shattering lows God’s love is at work to bring something good out of them. That kind of love has the power change people, situations and the world.

The love described in the passage above was demonstrated by Jesus during his life and describes God’s love. What would it look like if you and I had ‘faith’ in that kind of love and sought to model it in our everyday lives?

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude…. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7