When God spoke to Elijah on Mount Horeb, He could have done so in the wind, earthquake, or fire. But He didn’t. He spoke with a “still small voice”
~ 1 Kings 19:12 It used to be said that a person's limit to fame was 15 minutes. With the advancement of technology, that has basically been turned into an 8 second sound byte, and then we are scrolling to see what is next on our news feed. With everything happening so fast, God has to do some amazing things to get our attention sometimes. It's almost earth-shattering, and even then God has to try again. It's no wonder why it's so hard for so many to hear God's voice. I remember watching a dear friend after the loss of his wife, struggling to put things into perspective. He kept looking for the answer to the "why" and all he seemed to find was silence. It's the still small voice that he desired, but that's not what he was hearing because sometimes things like pain, or things of the world, seem to make the voice white noise. It's just there. Listening for the voice of God is like the dial on the radio. Sometimes the frequency must be adjusted to get the desired outcome. Turning our attention to the still small voice must take ourselves out of where we presently are. All in all, it will be okay, because whether you are listening, the voice is present in many ways. God learned a long time ago that in uniquely creating us, God will find a way to be real and present to each of us. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018
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"Go to your private space and shut the door, seek the Creator, who will be waiting." ~ Matthew 6:6 Yesterday I took time away from a gathering of friends to seek solitude. As I walked around a park, I discovered a table set with fine China, sitting beneath a tree in bloom.
The scene was a photo shoot that had just completed, and the photographer was sitting off to the side gathering her equipment together. I walked up and took a few photos. I started to think of the importance of seeking solitude. When I first began the discipline of seeking a time of solitude each day, I was somewhat apprehensive. It wasn't so much the fact that I was not comfortable spending time alone, it was the fact I was being intentional about finding silence. More importantly, it was finding a way to overcome the chaos that then appears in the solitide. Recently someone asked me how it is that I find time write each day. It's not always easy, but for me, life just seems difficult when I don't. It's as if I have not really started my day until I invite the solitude to enter. I'm not afraid of the silence, I'm afraid the silence won't happen! Solitude is simply not something we seek naturally. At an early age we are taught to be in relationship and community, and fill our life with this preoccupation. Becoming comfortable with silence can happen anywhere once we have learned to surrender ourselves to the idea of solitude. Even as I sit and write this, I'm sitting in a busy terminal at LAX. Committing ourselves to solitude takes practice. It amazes me that even in a place full of chaos (and I laugh because a woman sitting across from me just dropped her suitcase on my foot and apologized!) I still recognize that God is present. Learning to invite the stirrings of our souls will always create space to welcome God into the present. Learning to surrender to solitude leaves us wanting more time to spend with God. Being attentive to God's voice in us no longer leaves us feeling as if we have wasted our time. Instead it is the reminder, like the unexpected table set under the tree, that God is simply waiting for us to show up. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 It's been a busy few days surrounded by the sounds of youth at the Junior Theater Festival. Tomorrow I will journey home again. I've needed this time away. This afternoon I stepped away and walked several blocks, and then, found a park bench to just sit and watch people go by. We all need to stop along our journey. Not so much to rest, but to reflect. I am reminded that this week we will once again wear ashes, and be reminded that, "From dust we were created, and to dust we shall return." While none of us are immune to this journey, we are, however, drawn to our own personal paths. I'm do thankful for the moments to reflect among redwoods, and give thanks, as I also listen to the voices of a new generation as they just discover that they, too, are on a path. Today I am grateful to have been a part of both. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 The Immortal Creator
(Based on Psalm 90) Lord, we know our history and look forward in time, but You remain our constant. Before the labor pangs of the mountains, before the first cosmic particle even back before the beginning, You were God. From the very dust of the earth You cry, “Go back oh mortals.” In Your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, or like an hour’s sleep in the night. You remove people, just as the plains’ tornado wipes a home from its foundation. We are as winter grass in the Guadeloupe Valley – In the winter it bursts with green life, Yet by summer it is quickened and burnt in the scorching heat. So it is with our life, consumed by Your discipline, and by Your insight we are removed. Our inequities are evident to You, our guilt disclosed to You in a solitary glance. Each day surrenders each second to Your might. Our life ends as sudden as a short story. Our life span may measure seventy-five years – If we persevere, perhaps, ninety. If our life is full of struggles and sadness; Soon it is over and our soul takes wing. But, do we take a moment to think of Your love? Where else may we find respect even remotely close to your amazing power? Treasure each day is a lesson You try to teach each of us, stretching forth before us Your words of wisdom. By our side, stand Lord, through the long hours of each day; Show us your mercy. Fill us with your gift of love, so that we may know joy, laughing and singing like children. Give to us Your grace, so that we may find ways to dilute the pains of life with happiness. Help us to see You more clearly, working and ever re-creating within us, so that others may recognize Your glory. We want so much for God’s beauty to be upon us, until our hands find their way to Yours, and we share in Your eternal purpose. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those that are crushed in spirit. ~ Psalm 34:18 Yesterday I traveled with a group of youth from the Houston area to Sacramento, California, where they will be performing over the weekend as part of the Junior Theater Festival.
Like most kids, the trip has been filled with excitement as they embark on this new adventure. When we got settled, we decided to take a walk around the area near the hotel and see some of the sites. Of course, the historic structures caught our eyes, and many of the youth snapped pictures of the Cathedral, architectual details, and just general landscapes. One of the kids saw me taking a picture of a broken bottle. Around the dinner table, it was discussed how I take pictures of a lot of things, and then somehow seem to make them relational to what I am thinking or feeling. I guess it's true. For any of us, we see a fractured bottle along the road as something unwanted, and of no worth. It makes me realize that for many of us, we are fragmented and broken, but that God looks and sees something more. It is our brokenness and woundedness that makes us uniquely precious to God. It is in these moments when we call out, that God sees more than something others, and sometimes only us, sees as broken. God sees a precious child. Remember, in the brokenness of Christ, we are made whole. In our brokenness we are more precious to God than we will ever know. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 "He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him."
~ Luke 10: 34 The story of the "Good Samaritan" reminds us that caring for one another has many different descriptions. Within this story, the one person who is thought to be the less-likely to extend hospitality is the only person to stop and administer help. Working with hospice patients I have discovered there is a difference between curing a patient and caring for a patient. Care is something other than cure. Care is being with, crying out with, suffering with, feeling with. Care is compassion. It is claiming the truth that the other person is my brother or sister, human, mortal, vulnerable, like I am. When care is our first concern, cure can be received as a gift. Often we are not able to cure, but we are always able to care. To care is to be human. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 "God defends the cause of the fatherless, widow and orphan. We are to love the strangers and fear the Lord." ~ Deuteronomy 10:18 At some point we are all strangers. It is something that we have all experienced, and know how important hospitality can be. It makes the difference between feeling welcomed, or feeling like an outsider.
This morning I was with a woman as her mother took her last breath on this earth. Her first words were, "I guess that I am an orphan now." The woman also just recently lost her husband, compounding the impact of this loss. Her next words were, "I am an orphan and a widow." We are reminded time and time again in scripture that we are to care for the widow, the orphan and the stranger. Our ability to present for one another in these moments not only provide encouragement and support, but serve as instruments in sustaining one another as well. We are the living instruments of the God's own spirit of love to and for one another. We are to be companions for one another as we journey through life, especially when we encounter those who are widows, orphans, and strangers. By being companions with one another, we are not just present for one another, but through Christ living in us, we become companions for our souls. Through this we are no longer strangers, or alone. It is in these relationships that we learn more about our own gifts, affirm our journeys, while being present for one another. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."
~ Luke 15: 20 "I'm waiting on the right invitation," is how she said it. Exactly like that! This was what one of my patients shared about going to heaven. I had to laugh when she began to share about some of the folks she had encountered in her life, and, "if they think I'm going to heaven with them, then they have another thing to think about!" Through the years I have met people I might not think as the ideal person to welcome me into heaven, but I can't imagine passing up the opportunity of eternity because I simply didn't care for the first person I met along the way! Sometimes I wonder if heaven will have an orientation period, filled with many reconciling moments. Caring for one another unconditionally is not supposed to only be reserved for the streets of heaven. Through the years I have known unconditional people. The work that goes into reconciliation can be both challenging and rewarding. Our ability to be agents of healing and wholeness in a fragmented world involves our ability to welcome one another. The long-awaited return is not to only be the subject of a Lifetime movie event. It is to be lived out simultaneously with our daily life, and our understanding that we are the instruments by which it will happen. God is both patient and kind, but most of all, God is always waiting. God's unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we seem to forget that God has a higher road for each of us to journey, that always leads back home. It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That truth will help us to return to God's ever-present love. It means that we are the source of the invitation, whether it's an earthly mission or a heavenly calling, and it's our responsibility to respond when it is offered to us! Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 "Though the mountains be shaken, and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
~ Isaiah 54:10 In our relationship with God, these are words that we will never encounter from God. "I will love you, if..." The unconditional love of God does not contain the word, "if." I think that for any of us living today, where we have encountered so many "conditional if's" that thinking about God's love in this manner becomes nearly impossible. By the time I was ten years old I had seen many of my friends' parents divorce, including my own. I had already learned that not everyone was designed to be in relationship, never the less, love one another unconditionally. I remember my first fight in school. I was in fifth grade and I had never wanted to punch someone as much as I did this person I had been angered by. As we drew our fists and made those initial swings, we looked more like the blades of a fan that had lost their balance and were pulling the mechanism in different directions. Those first few blows were a shock at first, but then they began to hurt. We continued until we were both exhausted. And then something happened. We stopped. And in the next moment we started to cry. It wasn't that we were really angry with each other, as much as we were upset with things that were happening in our lives and at home. We were hurt, and so we wanted to make someone else hurt as much as we were hurting. The two of us actually became friends and at the end of the school year we moved away. Sad thing is, I can't remember the boy's name, but the good thing is that I learned a lesson. I realize that we create "if's" in our relationships with others. "If only you were..." "If I had only known this..." God's love for us does not depend on what we do or say, on our looks or intelligence, on our success or popularity. God's love for us began while still held within our mother's womb and will continue to exist when we have released our final breath. God's love is not bound by time or circumstances. One thing I have discovered through God's unconditional love, is that although the love is everlasting, our daily expressions and actions concern God. They have to. To love without condition does not mean to love without concern. God desires to enter into relationship with us and wants us to love God in return. Hopefully it doesn't involve getting angry, causing us to turn away from that love, in order for us to return with a greater understanding. To enter into an intimate relationship with God without fear, trusting that we will receive love and always more love, is truly what it means to love and be loved unconditionally. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13 Today began with a phone call from a coworker sharing that someone I have been visiting has declined and isn't expected to live through the day. Immediately I began to think of my last visit with the person, what was said, and then thought, I sure wish we would have had more time.
One reality that I deal with each day is that every new person I meet is in the final chapter of life. I love how one of the nurses shared that our chapter with our hospice patients is filled with an unknown number of pages. Some chapters are long, and some are very short. I have often wondered how different our lives would be if for each person we encountered we understood to be a gift to our lives for only one chapter. For me, that is the reality with so many people, and what they bring to this chapter is incredibly important. I often think of this chapter as the one where unconditional love can be expressed. Recently I spent time with a woman who claimed a "scandelous past." I must admit I had to smile when she made the initial comment, and then listened as she shared of relationships she had lived through and eventually the brokenness she encountered when those relationships were discovered. Another was a sharing by a man who described his mother as a "tragic figure." He recalled sitting at the dinner table one night when she told his father that he was "worthless, and that she should have never married him, or had children." My encounters are not always filled with moments that leave me hoping that the person can ultimately find peace. Some have, and are filled with not just unconditional wisdom, but serve also as a witness to God's unconditional love as well. Each day is important, and each encounter a gift. For any of us, this chapter of life may be our last. Finding the ability to receive and give unconditional love is how we hope our chapters will end. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea-- the LORD on high is mighty.
~ Psalm 93:4 Have you ever felt like the world is crashing in all around you? There are days when things can seem to be all-consuming, and for any of us, no matter how seasoned a swimmer we may seem to be as we maneuver the waters of the world with it's problems, sometimes we can feel as if we are drowning. The power of God, according to the Psalmist, "Is mightier than the thunder of great waters." I love sitting along the shoreline of the Gulf. I have a few favorite places on Galveston Island where the jetty joins the sea with the land. The huge granite stones, set there nearly a century ago, invite waves of all sizes to crash, creating sounds of thunder as they meet one another. It can be both a place for meditation and energy for those who sit, watch and listen. Christ serves as the One who is available, like the jetty, to reach out and embrace when the waves come crashing in around us. However, we must recognize that even the jetty has safe boundaries. It is the choice of the those who wander out, exploring, and sometimes nearly being washed away, only to learn that the safest place is still remaining close to the shore. May the mighty hand of hold hold you safe from the crashing waves of this world. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
~ Ephesians 6: 10 In this world there seems to be a preconceived belief that people of faith are ineffective, and often are ridiculed because human suffering and turmoil are brought to center stage through social media. We as "religious" folk will often chime in, but yet, there it still is for all the world to see. We are not the first generation to be told, "If you believe that there is a loving God, let your God do something about this mess!" Some will simply declare religion irrelevant, while others will consider it an obstacle to the creation of a new and better world. Faith is an interesting thing. Christ reminds us that many of those who follow will be arrested, persecuted and killed on behalf of deciding to live out "the faith." It's almost as if the world is waiting for these images, and saves up all the comments, "likes," "shares," and general words but no deeds. I once heard a professor share that the world will look back at this generation and shake it's head. "We have the capacity to feed the world, but we don't. We have the ability to shelter every child, but won't. Every man, woman, and child could have some kind of healthcare, but don't." All of these things exist, and it can be overwhelming when you seriously look at the images that come to mind when these subjects are shared. While in the silence Christ tells us to "trust and not worry." It causes tension in our faith, and challenges the world to seek out an answer. Let us not give ourselves over to skepticism or cynicism, which comes from within and the world. We must continue to believe and hold on to the knowledge that God always has a plan, and it usually starts with US. What role will YOU play? Love one another. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 |
AuthorRev. G. Todd Williams is the author of the book, "Remember Me When..." and is a former hospice chaplain and pastor. Archives
February 2024
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