“๐บ๐๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐
, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.” ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐ 3: 10
Itโs been cold and rainy of late where I live in New Jersey and winters in January can be challenging but last week it was a tad warmer and as I drove along Ocean Avenue on my way to morning Mass, I literally had to stop my car and take this photo.ย As I get older, I often marvel at the little things that in my earlier days I didnโt seem to notice or have time for. Beautiful things in nature like the morning sunrise, the majesty that is the ocean, or even the sound of birds chirping, especially those occasions when the most beautiful red bird of all — the cardinal — would sit close to me in my backyard.ย But seeing the sunlight bounce off the water that early morning, I felt as if God was talking directly to me, encouraging me to stay the course I have been on and to keep doing what I feel he is calling me to do at this moment in my life.
As Mass was ending, the congregation began to sing one of my favorite songs of all time — โ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐โ– and that line that always without fail brings me to tears โ โ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐โย All of us have probably felt broken at some point in our life, but God understands that, and He helps us heal through his abundant gifts of grace and especially when we take the time for that simple, intentional prayer of discernment that I learned from doing the ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐บ๐. ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐ โ “Lord, help me to know what you want, to want what you want, and do what you want.
In the same way that active listening can be that hand to hold, that ear to listen, and the heart that understands someone else’s needs, spiritual listening can help us better discern how God may be speaking to us directly or indirectly through the other people we interact with and the myriad of challenges that may come our way throughout our life.ย So how about you โ do you make space in your life to listen and discern that spiritual voice?ย Does that spiritual voice you listen for help calm you and provide you that inner peace you are looking for?
Here’s a prayer that I heard last year at a retreat that has helped me to be more open to those special moments of spiritual clarity like I witnessed last week, and I hope it can be of help to you: โGod of silence and God of all sound, help me to listen. Help me to do the deep listening to the sounds of my soul, waiting to hear your soft voice calling me deeper into you. Give me attentive ears that begin to separate the noise from the sounds that are you; you who have been speaking to me and through me my whole life, for so long that you can seem like background noise. Today Lord, help me hear you anew.โ hashtag#spiritualcoaching hashtag#careercoaching hashtag#ignatianspirituality hashtag#executivecoaching
