The ways of God are as loud as bread rising

"We have been seduced by an idolatry that deceives us into thinking that God is mostly found in the big and loud. The ways of God are predominantly small and quiet. The ways of God are about as loud as seed falling on the ground or bread rising in an oven.

"Advent is for waiting. For it’s in the waiting that our soul grows quiet and contemplative and cultivates a capacity for awareness by which we can discern what God is doing when He does act.

"Waiting for God to act only seems like waiting for God to act. God is always acting because God is always loving the world and always giving birth to something. Waiting for God to act is actually waiting for your soul to become quiet enough to discern what God is doing in the obscure and forgotten corners, far from the corridors of power or wherever you think the action is." adapted from an article by Brian Zahnd

Waiting and silence are siblings. They both require a movement from a frantic grasping at anything to dispel the discomfort to a weaned rest in God's good care. We join God in practicing silence and waiting during Advent.

And somehow, the silent seed and yeast have their way. In time, something in us has space to be born.

JUDY

** We used the full version of Brian's thoughts (quoted above) in our Silent Retreat Today.
Click HERE to download the beautiful article and some thoughtful questions to consider.