On a balmy evening in London whilst the sun was setting and children were playing in the garden, I met for a BBQ with some friends I know through the retreats of Neale Donald Walsch. I love the sense that I have in those moments when it feels like we are all back in the room together, so to speak – that of a tribe of souls vibrated by the powerful messages of Conversations with God.
I spoke of my observation that what really matters is YOUR conversation with God. It met with nods of agreement. The conversation that matters most is not mine, not Neale’s, not my Mum’s nor my neighbour’s but YOURS. It’s important to get this message across because we’ve so often been led away from our own experience. At the risk of contradicting myself completely in my next gesture, I am going to quote from Conversations with God Book 1 because I think the articulation of this point is so powerful:
You have all placed so much importance on the Word of God, and so little on the experience. In fact, you place so little value on the experience that when what you experience of God differs from what you’ve heard of God, you automatically discard the experience and own the words, when it should be the other way round…My most powerful messenger is experience, and even this you ignore. Especially this you ignore.
The question this brings up for me is: What then is my experience of having a conversation with God? How does it work? Perhaps if I understood my own experience more, my conversation would deepen, expand and even extend to help others deepen, expand and extend their conversation with God. So coming up are my 3 biggest observations about what helps me to stay connected with the Divine.
Helping each other to have their own conversation with God, A New You workshop, March 2008, London
Firstly, my conversation with God is unique to me. Love is a response to that which is unique as it says in Neale’s conversation with God. Some years ago I did a workshop with one of the founders of the Findhorn Foundation, the spiritual and ecological community in Scotland. Dorothy Maclean, a sprightly, white haired lady with shining eyes and a very sharp perception, shared with us her experience of coversing with the Divine.
Whereas the other, perhaps more famous, founder of the Findhorn Foundation Eileen Caddy, author of books such as God Spoke to Me heard a “still, small voice inside” (rather like Neale) Dorothy said that she did not. Rather:
“I had to keep refocusing, and sift thoughts and feelings clearly before putting them into words. I heard no actual voice; there was a delicate and pure inner prompting which I tried to convey in my own words, as my art form.” (from To Hear the Angels Sing by Dorothy Maclean)
The lesson here? Go with whatever form your own conversation takes. Don’t get hung up or despondent or dismissive if you don’t hear a clear, quiet voice inside speaking to you. God communicates with us in a thousand different ways across a million different moments with infinite creativity and love.
Making new friends, A New You workshop, March 2008, London
Secondly, I find that it helps to talk to God as a friend. No formalities required. No long words or flowery language necessary. I believe that part of the genius of the Conversations with God material is its formulation that God is our best friend, our closest ally, the Unseen Companion that is always and in all ways on our side.
Over 2000 years ago Jesus spoke of God as his Father, “Abba”. It was a radical re-conceptualisation at that time because it communicated an intimacy between Jesus and God in a way that had not been there in the typical Jewish view of God. Casting God into the role of father however no longer has the resonance it did two thousand years ago and for many of us that articulation simply doesn’t work any more.
So if God is our friend, what does that mean? What are the practical implications of that? Like with our human friendships, it means spending time together. It means making it a two-way street. Listening to what the Other has to say (in whatever way it comes) and also expressing oneself in return.
Use God it urges us in the book Friendship with God. I understand that, like a true friend, God likes to be asked to step in, to help, to intervene in some way. Asking God for guidance, for help, for sustenance when we are weary is not about being small-minded, self-absorbed, “please-can-I-have-a-parking-space” but relating to Divine Force with a wide open mind and trusting heart.
Keeping a prayer journal can be a wonderful way of tracking your communication with God. As the old wisdom says, God works in mysterious ways and the responses do not always come immediately or in the form we would most expect. Conversations with God can take unexpected loops and turns and have backtracks and waiting times. Journaling and recording can help us to build trust in God’s ability to always answer and provide whatever is best for us even if that does not look like what we think is best for us.
Reminding each other of Who We Really Are, A New You workshop, March 2008, London
Finally, I think it helps to be reminded that there is nothing more real than having our own conversation with God. Even if it sometimes feels like the most intangible, finely choreographed dance we do. As Mother Theresa had written on the wall in her house for children in Calcutta:
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
