The Internal Telephone
A gift that's always been there.
I would like you to say something to God.
A prayer. A whazzzup. A request. A thank you. Whatever you want. But I want you to not say something with words out of your mouth. I want you to communicate with your very being. Think it. Feel it. Emote it.
Take a moment and do it.
(come back when you’re ready)
What did you just do? What is that? Somehow, inside your very being is a kind of portal that allows you to talk directly to God. A door that can open and close. I like to use the metaphor of a telephone. You have a soul telephone that is connected to the Giver of your soul.
Where did you get that telephone? Did someone come along and place that telephone inside of you? Did you go to a store, a shrine, a sanctuary and pick one out? Did you have to beg, yell, or plead to get it? Or has it always been inside of you?
The answer is it’s always been there. From the very beginning of your existence, you’ve had a telephone. It’s a gift that’s always been there. The word we have for getting something that you didn’t have to request, earn, or purchase is Grace. You have a Grace inside of you in the form of a telephone.
Quick side note. You have a telephone. I have a telephone. Everyone has a telephone. It’s interesting to see this metaphor because in the history of religion people have believed that they needed to walk around and put telephones in others which is silly. It’s already in there! You can’t put in what’s already in. Humans can definitely ignore their telephone, and in fact that’s probably a good definition of what spiritual formation is paying attention to your telephone.
What if we lay down any feeling that it’s on us to pass out telephones, and instead get curious with everyone we meet about what kind of phone calls they’re having?
What are their phone calls like?
What do they talk about?
That sounds so much more interesting.