I was so moved when I watched this video on faith. In the cover article for our monthly newsletter, I had written about how faith is a multi sensory experience. I had talked about how the Universe provides us with answers to our prayers in a wide diversity of ways. In the story told in this video, this man’s prayers were answered via a license plate. Something had to draw his eyes to that license plate. Normally, when we are driving, at least from my memory of having driven, we are not paying attention to the license plates of cars on the other side of the highway or road. Even if he had pulled over to the side of the road, as in the video, the chances of him having seen that particular license plate without something directing his vision seem minimal.
How open are we to receiving signs and symbols from God? Do we miss out on the answers to our prayers because they do not come in ways that we expect them to? It is like the story in an email that I receive periodically. It goes like this:
A man was trapped in his house during a flood. He began praying to God to rescue him. He had a vision in his head of God’s hand reaching down from heaven and lifting him to safety. The water started to rise in his house. His neighbor urged him to leave and offered him a ride to safety. The man yelled back, “I am waiting for God to save me.” The neighbor drove off in his pick-up truck.
The man continued to pray and hold on to his vision. As the water began rising in his house, he had to climb up to the roof. A boat came by with some people heading for safe ground. They yelled at the man to grab a rope they were ready to throw and take him to safety. He told them that he was waiting for God to save him. They shook their heads and moved on.
The man continued to pray, believing with all his heart that he would be saved by God. The flood waters continued to rise. A helicopter flew by and a voice came over a loudspeaker offering to lower a ladder and take him off the roof. The man waved the helicopter away, shouting back that he was waiting for God to save him. The helicopter left. The flooding water came over the roof and caught him up and swept him away. He drowned.
When he reached heaven and asked, “God, why did you not save me? I believed in you with all my heart. Why did you let me drown?” God replied, “I sent you a pick-up truck, a boat and a helicopter and you refused all of them. What else could I possibly do for you?”
It is not that the Divine is not in communication with us, rather that sometimes we are not listening with all our senses for the answers. So this month, may we focus on receiving the answers to our prayers and the guidance for our life through all of our senses.