The Second Gaze - Voice

There are lots of ways that we can hear the voice of others.  Yesterday, I felt like I heard the voices of animals by seeing where they had been.  One of the benefits of the snow that we’ve had is that I can see animal trails in ways that are not normally possible.  In our garden area, I saw the prints of a bunny that had gone through and on my walk with Scout yesterday morning, I saw all of these tracks through the snow along the creek.  I loved seeing the paths that they had taken as they were walking and I was imagining “conversations” that might have been happening among them as they walked along.  There are many different ways that we can “hear” voices...sometimes we can hear with our eyes.  

I believe that is one of the ways that we can hear the Spirit speaking - yes it is sometimes through the literal voice of scripture, or of another person, or of the “still small voice” of God.  But other times, it is through what we see, what we feel, what we taste, or even what we smell.  In scripture, I love how there are many ways that the senses are engaged in how to encounter God

...taste and see the the Lord is good...Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one...and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave...But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him...They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while [Jesus] was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”...