Promptings...

It’s a word I often use, but every time I type it, the spell checker adds a squiggly red underline indicating that it is not a valid word in the English language.  Years ago I learned the word “Promptings,” as a description of how the Holy Spirit prompts or nudges us to do God’s work and will, and my spirituality professor taught us that the goal of the faith is to listen for and respond to God’s promptings all the time.  In doing so, our faith grows, we share Christ, and God is revealed.
As a father, there are multiple times in a day when I prompt my children and pets to act on or follow through with something.  The prompt is sometimes for the good of my child or pet, but often the prompting is shared as a means of teaching them how to live in community or simply navigate the world.  Sometimes those prompts are received with little to no resistance, but there are other times when it seems I might as well have told them to jump off a bridge into ice cold water.  They act as if I’ve personally attacked them, and they insist on their own way.  And then there are those times when the prompt is seemingly “not heard”...
As one can expect, it can get frustrating at times, because if they would just listen and respond, just be open to seeing and doing things from a different perspective, then everyone might be better for it.  But as such thoughts come to mind, there are times when I am reminded by a voice in my head that I can be just as closed off and resistant to the promptings around me.
Whether it is from my wife, from folks in the Church, or from the Holy Spirit itself, it is so easy to keep the blinders on, resist listening and looking, and if an urge hits, to rationalize that it’s not from God or not important, but if I am open and honest enough, if I dig down under the surface, I can often realized that indeed, it was a prompting.
This morning I felt a prompting.  I came out of breakfast, and there was a man sitting beside the road.  I was nudged to go to him and see if he needed anything.  At first I shrugged it off.  It came again, and I realized I had to meet someone at the office, and so I drove away.  In the midst of the interaction at the office the man’s face and demeanor stuck in my head, and I heard the voice, “Go back after you are done talking.”
I listened to that voice, and drove back to the restaurant, only to find that the man was no longer there.  I drove around a bit to see if I could find him, but he was gone in the 20 minutes since I’d left.
It is bothersome to confess this, especially since our congregation is being intentional in praying, “God helps us to see what YOU need us to see,” then respond as we feel prompted to do so.  And yet at the same time, when I prayed and thought about it, I heard God say, “Yes, you should have responded, but in responding with acknowledgment of not following, you are better equipped to listen and respond in the future.”

In the 15th chapter of the book of Romans, Paul writes, “We...ought to bear our failings, not to please ourselves...but for the good of those around us and to build them up...May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
As I read these words, I am reminded that this is not the first or last prompting I will neglect to respond to, and I am also reminded that there will be many times when those for whom I care will neglect to respond to my prompts as well.  But because of grace, God doesn’t give up on me and will continue to invite me to participate in the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God, just as I will continue to instruct and urge my family to live into a life and way that seeks wholeness and health.

How well are you seeking to live into God’s will?  Where are you missing God’s promptings?  Are you resisting promptings which might transform others and/or you?  These are hard questions, but in asking them, God can change, not just you, but the world.

Holy Spirit, help us to seek Your voice, to tune into Your promptings, and then follow faithfully, trusting in Your will, and Your ways, so that we might be changed, and Your Great Commission lived out through us.  In Your name we pray.  Amen.