"Teach Them to Hear Me"

A personal relationship with God has been our birthright by His gift of life. He has always been part of us—hidden and covered, deep within our hearts. He has always been in the beauty of the present moment. However, our minds divert us away from our journeys inward to experience Him. We are dazzled by fancy colors, shapes, and distractions outside of us that tempt us with thoughts of a future day when we might have much more than we have now. These journeys outward lead us away from the gifts of the present moment, away from the stillness of the open, receptive emptiness inside us. All the while, throughout our days, within that emptiness our hearts call to us. We ignore that call until we feel suffering, pain, and distress. It is then—and only then—that we feel desperate enough to protect the emptiness. Rather than stuffing it full of distracting and fleeting diversions, our suffering calls us to fill it with something meaningful and unseen. Without God, we are at the mercy of an insecure mind, allowing a storm to twist and tear us into pieces. Without God, humanity has no anchor, no hope—nothing to rely upon but what it calls “fate.” Without God, we have no guidance or captain of the ship other than a mind that relies upon its own limited perceptions and stories. This mortal chaos is far bigger than our small minds can navigate. What do we do? It is quite simple. Humanity turns to God. We listen intently to the voice of God. Though invisible, to listen we rely on what flourishes only within our hearts—faith. There is no other leader who can shepherd us to greener pastures of health. No other leader who knows our hearts so well and understands how our minds mislead us. There is none, other than God, who can bring us to a safer tomorrow—so we may exist in freedom and love now. May the gifts of this book be our prayer that we follow, through the rest of our days in existence. And may we forever exist in Him and with Him, listening to the words of His dream for us. For surely, it is our minds that have gotten us here, in pain, and it is only He who knows our way out of here. This is when we finally know to turn to Him. It is when we may call to Him with questions and, from within the empty space we have created, receive His guidance. By giving this space to God, we send a signal to Him that we are ready to begin this perfect relationship—a relationship that will deepen as we converse with Him and hear His voice. It is then, amid a world of fragments, that we find the missing piece of us. We grow whole. It is when we hear Him that we become who we really are.