While driving home one day, I noticed
that someone had posted some cardboard signs along the roadside,
leading guests to a party on my street. I live out in the country
where there are no city blocks, with many curving roads and irregular
intersections.
I saw that the person who had posted the signs, placed them at
the crucial intersections. At every important choice point, there
was a sign. I drove for long stretches past numerous smaller
intersections, where there were no posters. Then, when I again
reached a crucial intersection, there was another clear marker.
It occurred to me that this is how
Spirit gives us guidance - we get signs when we need them. Whenever
you arrive at a critical choice point, information shows up to
help you decide. If you are not getting a sign, you are probably
not at a crucial intersection. That's the time to just keep going
and enjoy the ride. When you are ready to know, you will. If
you don't know, it is not time yet. In the meantime, just breathe,
trust, and find the blessing where you are. If you are seeking
direction, pray for guidance. Then let the universe deliver your
answer in the right way, place, and time. If, upon completing
your prayer, you do not hear a voice boom from heaven, shout
your name, and bellow, This is what you must do! - don't freak
out. Give the great Spirit a chance to deliver your message when
you most need it. It will come. Guidance often arrives in uncanny
and synchronistic ways. I met a fellow who prayed for a sign
to help him decide whether or not to accept a promotion that
would require him to relocate his home and family to a distant
city. Then one night he came home late and saw a "For Sale"
sign on his lawn. Since his wife was already sleeping, he did
not want to wake her. The next morning he asked her about the
sign. "What sign?" she asked him. "The one on
the lawn," he told her. The two walked outside, and no sign
was to be found. The fellow deduced that he had indeed been given
a sign. He took the job, and the move ultimately turned out to
be a success for everyone.
A man at a seminar told me he prayed for direction one morning,
and then that afternoon as he walked out of a restaurant, the
wind blew a piece of paper against his knees. He picked it up
and discovered it was a flyer to my seminar that evening. He
attended, and subsequently his life changed.
Another friend decided he wanted to become independently wealthy
and retire at a young age. He prayed for help with this project.
The next morning when he went out to jog, as he turned a corner
he saw a book someone had left on top of a trash can: Your
Money or Your LIfe. He took the book, read it, and found
the wisdom he needed. Now he is well on his way to riches and
early retirement.
If you act anxiously to hasten your
answer, you inhibit your ability to receive guidance, and delay
its arrival. In such a situation your wisest move is to step
back from frenetic activity and return to peace. I once needed
to find a particular document to resolve a financial snafu. I
searched for it nervously, and only grew more confused and frustrated.
Finally I realized I was getting nowhere and decided to sit down
and meditate to clear my mind. I let go of trying to locate the
paper, and relaxed. Toward the end of my meditation, an image
popped into my mind, showing me a certain folder toward the rear
of a file cabinet. I looked in the folder and there was the document.
I use a very successful method to receive guidance. I call it
The Truth Smoke-Out. Whenever I am not sure what to do, I say
to the universe, "Just show me what I am to do here. I am
willing to do whatever is in the best interest of everyone involved.
Give me a clue, and I will follow." Then I release the situation.
I give up any preconceived notion about how this is supposed
to turn out, and when I am supposed to know. Sometimes the answer
comes instantly, and sometimes it takes a while. But it always
comes.
In the Greek version of the Bible,
the first translation from the original Aramaic, two different
words are used for our word time. One is chronos, which is equivalent
to our understanding of time in seconds, minutes, and hours.
The other word is kairos, which can best be translated as in
God's time or at the right time or when the time is ripe. In
our culture we are used to living in chronos. But there is an
entirely more important element of time, which is timing. That's
kairos. Practice living in kairos, and answers arrive at the
perfect time. God is at least as smart as the person who put
the signs up for the party.
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Signs
when you need them!... on the road to PROSPERITY