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Which Voice Will I Listen To?

Which Voice Will I Listen To?

Everything I do is teaching myself, and teaching others as well. I can’t stop teaching. What I can do is exercise control over what I teach. I do this by choosing the voice I want to listen to. If I listen the the ego’s voice, I will teach that we are vulnerable, fearful and guilty. If I listen to the Holy Spirit’s Voice, I will teach something entirely different. Which voice will I choose? The first thing I had to learn how to do was recognize which voice I was listening to. At first I was at a loss, but soon I started to see that the Voice for God is always gentle, loving and patient. This clearly separated it from the ego?s voice, which is always loud and strident. 

My son, Toby, tells me that not only are he and his girlfriend going to Europe this summer, but when he gets back, he is going sky diving! Knowing that they are traveling to Europe alone, was a little worrisome, but I?ve got to tell you, when he told me about his sky diving plans, I brought worry to a whole new level! It would be accurate to say that God?s Voice was not the first voice I heard. Boy, did my ego have a field day with this one. I heard the ego?s voice proclaiming loudly that this was crazy, crazy and recklessly dangerous. My ego wanted to know what kind of mom would go along with a stunt like this. It showed me pictures of my son stepping out of a plane and falling like a rock. It warned me of parachutes that don?t open.

If I listen to the ego?s voice, I will be afraid and fear is what I will teach. Even if I kept my comments to myself, I would express my fear in other ways. I will be teaching fear because I will be a fearful person. It is not God?s Will that I live in fear, nor is it His Will that I teach fear. After the initial shock wore off, I was able to tune out the loud, discordant voice of the ego and listen for the quiet, certain Voice of Love.

God?s Voice assured me that I was not created in fear and am not meant to live in fear. I do not want to teach fear because fear is not of God. My ego points out all sorts of scary stuff; war, personal strife, dangers small and great. The ego reminds me of sickness I have suffered and asks me how I could be like God if all of this is true. Behind this voice of fear is God?s Voice gently reminding me that there is nothing outside of God, and so if I think I can suffer I must be mistaken.

I hear the Voice for God and I hear its unassailable logic and yet I am seduced by what my body?s eyes and my body?s senses tell me. Looking at what I see in this world I have to ask, how can I be as God created me, and yet, how can I not be as God created me? This is why it is essential that I always choose to hear the Voice for God. This is the reason God gave me His Voice. Jesus assured us that he would be with us always and he meant this in a very literal sense. We are also assured that God would send His comforter, and He did.

I have all of this help, but I must agree to accept it for it to do me any good. The Holy Spirit is always whispering in my heart what I need to know, but I hear Him only if I choose to. Sometimes I will wallow around in misery for awhile before I decide that this kind of life is unworthy of a child of God. Then, I will call on God for help. The first thing I have to do is to surrender my own interpretation of what is happening. This clears the way for another way to see it. There is a prayer I learned while taking a Pathways course that starts like this: I open my mind to You Holy Spirit. I will not decide what anything means on my own.

In saying this prayer, I have invited the Holy Spirit into my mind to heal my thoughts. This is an important step because the Holy Spirit does not force His way in; He always waits for an invitation. I have also made a place in my mind for a new way to see things as I confessed to not knowing what anything means. I am very excited now, because I am going to experience my life change for the better. I have shown my willingness through this invitation. Willingness is my only job; the rest is up to God. In fact, if I tried to fix it myself, I would just be in the way. It would make no sense to come to God for help and to bring the proposed answer with me (though often, I confess, I am guilty of doing just that).

As usually happens, the first voice I heard was the ego’s voice, but I recognized it for what it was and, as I listened more closely, I began to hear the Voice for God. There are only those two voices. I chose the one I wanted to follow. If I had chosen the ego’s voice I would have taken a detour into fear. I have been down this road many times and I didn’t want to go there. By choosing to listen to the Voice for God, I have chosen to teach myself that I am God’s Holy Son. This is also the lesson I am teaching Toby. I am an imperfect teacher of God, but I am a willing learner and it is the Holy Spirit?s joy to teach me.

© 2004, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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