by Ester Sihite, Student Affairs Educator (Seattle, Washington)
I believe that God works in mysterious ways, that God gives us lessons and talks to us through events, people, nature, the Holy Spirit, and the still, small voice inside us. It’s difficult in our worry-filled, iPhone-filled, Facebook-filled, Tweeter-filled lives to allow ourselves the space just to listen.
In my daily life, I go into “doer” mode, trying to fix, understand and seek control over what lies before me. I think, maybe God appreciates and chuckles at my concerted effort to understand, to do, and to solve. Perhaps God is telling us to wait, to have hope and sing a song, even when we don’t have the answers or control over a situation.
A Chinese proverb says: “A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” The writer of this Psalm also says, “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” Bono (from his U2 song “40”) says, “I will sing, sing a new song.” So maybe that’s what we do: we wait, we listen, we sing.
PRAYER Dear God, help us to listen for what you have to speak into our lives. Help us to have patience. Help us to sing a new song of hope, of love, and of praise. Help us to listen for you. In Jesus’ name, amen.