There's an old story about a man on a golf course, teed up overlooking a beautiful water shot. He's debating whether to use his new ball, which might carry further, or an old ball he won't mind losing. As he's thinking, a voice booms down from heaven: "Use the new ball." "Thanks, God!" So the man tees up the new ball, and just as he's about to swing, the voice booms again: "Take a practice swing." "Okay, God." He takes a practice swing and steps up again. Then a third time the voice booms down: "On second thought, use the old ball."

Don't you wish God's voice was that clear? Most of the time we really have to listen. Many people try to listen as they read and meditate on scripture — a time-tested path. But we know God speaks to us in other ways as well.

In her book Soul Feast, Marjorie Thompson makes the point that the very circumstances of our lives can be one of the ways God communicates with us. She writes, "God opens some doors and closes others. A troubling relationship may invite us to attend to something we have not fully faced in ourselves. Through the wisdom of our bodies, God tells us to slow down or reorder our priorities. The happy coincidences and frustrating impasses of daily life are laden with messages. It is a good habit to ask, 'What is God saying to me in this situation?' Listening to our lives is a part of prayer."

I'll confess that I don't always pay attention. It's easy to move through a day on autopilot — checking things off, putting out fires, falling into bed exhausted. But every so often something stops me. A conversation that goes deeper than expected. A door that closes when I was certain it would open. And in those moments I've learned to ask Thompson's question: what is God saying to me in this? 

It doesn't always yield an immediate answer. But the asking itself is a kind of prayer.  The open door, the closed door, the difficult relationship, the unexpected gift — all of it becomes a conversation with God.

Our prayer today comes from Paul's prayer for the Colossians: Loving God, may we be filled with the knowledge of your will, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we might lead lives worthy of you — fully pleasing to you, bearing fruit in every good work. Fill us with the strength that comes from your glorious power, preparing us to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks. For you have rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of your beloved Son. In his name we pray. Amen.

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