“An angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said,

“Here I am.” Exodus 3:2-4

I cannot say that I have ever been called by, or have seen or heard God speak, from a burning bush. However, I have been called to assist my mother in her move from her home to her first senior living apartment. I have been called to care for my son when he was struggling emotionally in his first months of college, ten hours from home. I can remember where I was when the planes hit the twin towers on 9-11. Being four hours from my home, I was driven to get home as fast as I could because we were living right near the U.S. Air Force deployment of bomber jets. I have heard God speak when I was hiking in the wilderness during a spiritual sabbatical in ministry. I had been going through spiritual journals of the past years of my life and ministry. I was in prayer, sitting on the edge of a cliff, when I heard the sound of a deep breath that cut right through the silence of my meditation. It sent a chill right down my spine. Right below me was a herd of elk. God spoke into my spiritual journey that day. God does speak in the wilderness.

I wonder if God speaks in more ways than we realize. Keep a record of “aha” moments from your day. As you lie down at night, before you go to sleep, be surprised at the amount of times God does speak, and the amount of “aha” moments that come your way. Lent is about experiencing God in the burning bushes of our spiritual journey.

Prayer: God, help us to be open to your voice and those “aha” moments with You. Amen.