Tell no man. -- somewhere in The Bible
I read a book by that title way back in the '60s. As I recall, it was about experiencing God (God hugs as I've come to know them). The gist being that we were to "tell no man" about a God hug for that brought it down from the spiritual plane onto the reasoning mind level. That's where we lose the gift because there is no way to describe with reasoning-mind words the wonderful works of God...we can only show it forth through our lifeworks, daily.
On occasion over the years, I would make a conscious decision to tell no one about a particular God hug but I'd get so caught up in my head, I'd intellectualize it to death. I'd wind up feeling neither particularly good nor bad about it after all that.
I may have made my turn yesterday, however. I shared with a friend a spiritual exercise I do which requires me to pick one non-friend, shut up, listen and love whatever comes forth. I call that one my emery board because, done right, my resistance hones my ugly and leaves the other unslimed.
Well, I have had feelings of uh-oh, wrong-way, turn-around ever since. I kept blaming it on my hurting spinal stenosis, until I got a clue (i.e., God hug). I realized the problem was in my share...not in the share, per se, but in the way I had shared: I had bragged about my spiritual exercise, in particular about how well I am doing it.
"Tell no man" flashed in my mind like a neon sign. I was about three feet into my wrong road again...the one where I natter at me for screwing up...when I realized I had to do it exactly the way I did it. No other way, apparently, was I going to get the less-than-wonderful feeling that proved the point...my error helped me experience what I needed to learn.
So I'm grateful I've now got first-hand knowledge of that particular truth. I'll forget, of course. But I've experienced the way I'll be reminded, and I won't forget too many times. God's hugs are gentle, kind and loving, but they sure do pack a wallop.
Thank you.
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