A Conversation With God

Back in the day, okay not that terribly long. When I was in undergrad, a good ten years ago, I sat up late one night reading the New Testament. It was probably the second time I had ever opened a Bible and tried to read it. I opened it to Revelation, just felt like that was where the Spirit led me.

Revelation 1:8 stood out for me. The RSV reads: “I am the alpha and the omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.”

By that point I had an inkling of the Tao Te Ching. The idea of “the way” or “a way” felt particularly spiritual to me. Rooted in science, I knew of one thing that always felt particularly true. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it is and was and will always be. I believe that’s the point when God opened my heart to Christianity.

For a rather long time I thought I was speaking to God. I had conversations such as “Well, God it doesn’t look like you’re doing anything. So I will do it.” Or conversations such as “God, I know you’re not real. If you were real, I’d know.” Simple conversations that were more self indoctrination over a belief system that had worked for me.

But I didn’t really have a conversation with God until this morning. Yes, I have prayed. Prayer is a wonderful way to have a conversation with God. But, most of my prayers are either asking for forgiveness or for God’s will. But today, I didn’t ask for God’s will. I didn’t pray the Lord’s Prayer as I always do in the morning.

I said to God this morning. “Are you ready for today? Because I’m going to get out of bed.”

And God responded with the friendly encouragement of my little sister, “Let’s do it.” And God responded when I lit my electric candle for strength, “Yes.” And God responded in the familiar sounds of the coffee pot brewing one cup of decaf coffee. “It’s ‘Go’ time.”

The smile on my face became more than just my inner encouragement and strength. It was a mutual smile between the Lord God Almighty and myself. So I responded, “Let’s make the best of today.”