Read the title of this post out loud: name what you can not not do.
No, I didn’t accidently put in two “nots.” Consider this: what is it in life you can not not do? What is that calling, that yearning that never goes away? Identify and name the kernel of meaning God planted deep in your soul.
I have found the inner work to listen to God, to hear my true voice, to wrestle with the words to describe the divine fingerprint within me takes a lifetime to fully know. Spending time in silence, journaling, praying, walking with God – all are practices that have help me know the deep truth.
There is a saying, let the muddy waters settle. Slowly in stillness and prayer, your story within God’s story will be revealed. Then I know even though I can’t always find the words.
Can you name what you can not not do?
I can not not write. It doesn’t matter if I am published. My destination is not being on the best sellers list. God branded me with a love of words. To play with them. To sort them into different patterns. To prod them and nudge them into life-giving sentences. To explore their meaning, their origins, their wisdom.
I can not not write. So I write blog posts. I journal. I write for my church. My words are used within sermons and leading worship. I am on committees locally and in our synod offering what I can. I take ideas and form books.
If you didn’t know I wrote books, most are on Amazon. Here are few titles: Whispers: Being with God in Breath Prayers; Sacred Surroundings: Finding Grace in Every Place; Creating a Rule of Life; 40 Voices, a Lenten Devotional; Christmas Crossroads, 30 Devotions for the Holiday Season and Spiritual Retreats.
A second “can not not” appeared on retreat a few years ago: I can not not be a contemplative.
The call to sit and be with God is undeniable. I hunger deeply for time with God in silence, stillness and praise. I am incomplete and lost without moments of gazing into God’s encompassing love and grace.
So when the human doubts arise and the world tempts me to be someone else, I remember these can not not’s. Can not’s reveal the core of who God created me to be. Discovering them has been like finding the pearl of great worth that all else fades in its presence. They become my true north in discernment. When the point on my inner compass lines up with these core identities, I am aligned with God.
Can you name what you can not not do?
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