It's the Reception of the Message that Matters

A lot of religious people talk about “hearing” God’s call or getting messages from God. Other people say they get gut feelings or their intuition “tells” them things. Still others claim angels and guides advise them. And then there are those who see messages all around them in their day to day life–the words spoken on a phone call, the fact that the phone call even occurred and the person who made the call at that particular moment.

What does it matter how the messages arrives and from whom or from what as long as you receive it? The importance lies in the reception of the message.

When I attended the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University as a magazine journalism major, we were taught that for communication to happen there had to be someone broadcasting a message and someone receiving it. If no one hears what you say or write or show–or understands it–then communication doesn’t happen.

I often say I receive messages. Where do they come from? Sometimes they are gut feelings–a kind of intuitive knowing. However, I’d define intuition as being tapped into my higher self or my soul and then being able to sense what it is telling me. That part of me is connected to what I would call Source or God. So, I guess I could say at those times I’m actually getting messages from God.

Other times I get messages from the world around me; I suppose these could also be seen as messages from God, the Universe or Source. Or I could just be reading into them what I want to see–need to see. It’s all in your perspective.

Just this week I received a few messages in this manner. I’ve been trying to figure out how to cut back and to focus more on the work-related things that are important to me and to find more balance in my life. I’ve let spirituality and religious practice fall by the wayside over the last few years, as well as human potential and self-improvement study. I want to make time for these. At the same time, I need to increase my activity in several areas of my professional life. I’ve said, “I need to cut back and gear up.”

Interestingly enough, on Friday night I received a call just before Shabbat from a rabbi acquaintance of mine. I’d call him a friend, but we don’t spend time together. We’ve never socialized. I’ve studied with him, and I have spoken with him about a variety of things on numerous occasions. Out of the blue, he called just to say hello because we hadn’t spoken in a long time, and he wanted to wish me a “Shabbat Shalom,” a good and peaceful Sabbath.

I told him about the vision map I’d made for this year, describing how for the first time in many years the professional section was smaller than the personal section. To my surprise, he not only knew what a vision map was, he said, “When I make one or anyone I know makes one, I advise them to put the Hebrew letter ‘hey’ in the middle to represent God. Everything we do always comes back to God.”

Ah. What a great reminder of something I already knew but had forgotten–something I could apply to help me bring spirituality and religious practice into my life fully. Everything–even my work–comes back to God. It flows from God and back to God. My whole life can be about spiritual practice if I have that focus.

A wonderful message. You know what? This rabbi had never before simply called me to chat. Never. Not once. Yet he offered me just the message I needed to hear. I put the hey on my vision map.

The next day I had to do an interview with a best-selling author. I read his book just before the interview and found myself inspired by the message. We had a great conversation, and at the end I told him how I planned to publish different parts of the interview in several places. He asked me, “For how many different places do you write?”

“I have three blogs of my own and two on-line columns,” I replied, actually leaving out two of my blogs.”Then I also write for one magazine at the moment.”

“How do you do it all?” he asked.

“Well, it takes a lot of time, but I’m thinking of cutting back to focus more on my own blogs,” I replied, voicing a thought that had been running around in my head and that had been “feeling” more and more right to me.

“I can see why,” he replied. “That sounds smart.”

Ah. Confirmation? Another message–this time from a complete stranger?

Interestingly, I’d heard the same thing from a colleague earlier in the week–someone who was supposed to help me market my new book (How to Blog a Book). When she found out what all I do, she said maybe the best thing she could do to help me market the book was to help me consolidate what I was already doing.

Hmmm. Twice in one week the same message from people outside my daily life. By the second time, I was really listening. And my gut–my intuition–was agreeing.

I can ask myself questions, too. I receive answers. Is it just me answering? I don’t know. If I intuitively sense that the answers are right, I trust them.

What about you? Do you get messages? How do they show up? Are they in the words or numbers on the license plate on the car in front of you in traffic? Are they visions while you sleep? Are they in links emailed to you by a friend? Or does God speak to you?

It doesn’t really matter as long as you receive them…and heed them. But I’d still like to know about your experience. Leave me a comment.