When I meditate, things pop into my head, a phrase, two or three words strung together. It could be something I have thought about before that bears repeating or it could be a new thought, coming out of the blue, seemingly from nowhere. This morning it was the six words you see above. ‘Listen – all you hear is God.”
And so I listened. I heard birds outside of my bedroom window chatting to each other. Yes, I thought, that’s an easy one. Of course that is God. I listened some more. Nothing. Not even my two cats were willing to contribute. They left the room as if to say, “We’ll be out in the living room whenever you are finished with whatever it is that you are doing in here.”
I had to give it some more thought, obviously. So this is how I interpret it. Any sound I hear during the day or night, is God. That includes words coming out of people’s mouths, music and even noise coming from the television or radio. It is all God. God is all there is. If God is all there is, then everything that enters my ears is coming straight from God. Does that include the things I don’t like? Yes. Mean words coming from people I am presently unhappy with? Yes. How is that possible?
We don’t get to say that the “bad stuff” (which we label as bad, by the way) isn’t part of our lives, just the “good stuff”. It’s all part of our lives. What would a novel be like if only good things happened in it? Boring? It certainly would not hold your interest for very long. We need challenges, conflict, ups and downs. Without the downs, how would you recognize the ups? Without pain, would you feel pleasure? Without sadness, would you know joy? I think not.
If I have things that must get done but I don’t want to do them, I do them anyway and then I feel not only that I accomplished something but I am happier that they are done and I am now “free” to do whatever I want to do. If I stay home and do nothing all day except what I want to do, knowing I had other things to accomplish but didn’t, then I am not as happy as I would have been had I done them! Make sense? Can you relate?
Back to God. What I am saying here is that all the input your brain takes in during the day is God. It may not please you to hear it but it is God nevertheless. It may be something you needed to hear in order to make a decision. It may make you think of something that will ultimately change your life. Or it could make you take the first step on a wonderful, magical journey that you wouldn’t have begun otherwise.
Listen…. hear the sounds. Dismiss the ones of no value to you but know the source. Don’t be so quick to judge what you hear as either “good” or “bad”. Allow it to settle in for a while, relax into your mind. Take a deep breath and say aloud, ” It’s alright. All I hear is God.”