UPDATE:

I need another 20 minutes of listening for God’s voice.

In my most recent post, I suggested that each of us consider spending 20 minutes on New Year’s Eve or Jan. 1 listening to God. Quiet our voices. Seek His voice. I thought maybe He would lead us into the New Year, reveal something about where we can serve and share and connect.

I gave him 24 minutes on New Year’s Eve and the space was filled beyond capacity, spilling into the following hours and days, with moments from 2019. My thoughts returned to the extraordinary people, places and projects - mostly people - where He met led me and met me and grew me over the past 12 months.

I was filled with gratitude, which is actually a great fuel when facing the challenge of a New Year. I was feeling a little hollow after Christmas, after the events and opportunities in December ended, and people I loved left home again. But 24 minutes of listening to Him replay 2019 restored my energy and enthusiasm.

I’m not sure where He will lead me in 2020, but I am excited about the possibilities. Soon, I invest another 20 minutes in seeking his voice and see if He is ready to reveal any details on the path ahead.

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(Posted earlier) My plan for the New Year involves more listening and less rambling in prayer. I want to create more space for God’s voice in our conversations.

I’m going to begin 2020 with 20 minutes of listening. I’ve asked the Sewickley United Methodist Church family to join me in the exercise. Sometime on New Year’s Eve, or New Year’s Day, I will give God 20 minutes of uninterrupted meditation and see how He responds.

I intend to open with a short prayer, something involving praise and thanks and my need for more of His Light in 2020, and then I’ll quiet my prayer voice and see where he takes my thoughts, how He fills my heart, how he spurs my imagination.

My prayers in 2019 were mostly filled with me running through a gratitude list, some personal needs and a lengthy roster of people, places and projects. If I had 20 minutes to pray, I talked for 20 minutes and allowed Him the rest of the day to respond. Curious structure for a conversation, I know.

In February, during a prayer vigil for inclusiveness in the United Methodist Church, I spent an hour in the chapel. I couldn’t fill the space with my voice, and a comfortable quiet filled the room. I relaxed into it and didn’t push myself to keep forming new thoughts. At some point, ideas and inclinations began to swirl. Not all of them related to inclusiveness, but all of them seem to be related to sharing and connecting and encouraging.

I tried to find quiet time at other times during the year. Sometimes I felt thoughts swirling again, and other times I felt my conscience intruding.

I can’t guarantee that 20 minutes of listening will be enlightening or encouraging. But I want to make the offer. I want God to know that I want more of Him in 2020. I want Him to know I am willing make room for more of Him.