“With exquisite kindness, God awakened desire within you, and binding it fast with the leash of love’s longing, drew you closer to Himself.” The Cloud of Unknowing

“The awakening call to contemplative intimacy with God is then the awakening of a graced awareness of a secret communion with God which secretly and gratuitously begins to abide within us.”  James Finley

What did you do on Halloween?  I went trick or treating with my two grandchildren.  It was delightful to see them in their costumes, eagerly running from door to door to gather the goodies that the host had in store.  It was a scene of pure childlike longing, love, and delight.  It was a reminder for my own childhood happiness experienced on that holiday, as well as an apt metaphor for one’s longing for the sweet, delightful love of God.  It is precisely that love that awakens us.  Awakened to what?

Awakened to the gift of Divine Love. 

Awakened to respond to the Divine invitation to live in the Presence of unseen Depths.

Awakened to receive, relish, and respond in love to the One who IS Love.

Awakened to fully experience and enjoy every moment of life.

This gift of awakening comes to us unexpectedly and uninvited.  James Finley puts it this way, “Before we did anything to earn it (we can never earn it), before we did anything to receive it (we are never ready), we were granted the gift of awakening.”[1]

This gift of Divine Awakening invites a response.  What kind of response?  Not a response of intense religiosity, committing oneself to a certain cause, or embarking on a personal project of moral improvement, but merely a simple  response to remain awake, to not fall back asleep.  In simple terms it is a response to be fully alive by practicing the presence of God.

Being awake to the Presence of God means that we see the gift of Divine Love which is given not earned, freely distributed like Halloween treats, hidden in others or in a world which is cloaked in a costume (sometimes a very scary one at that) just waiting to be seen and discovered.  It is this gift of Divine Love, so sweet to our souls, our spirits, and our senses, for which we long.  “Each awakening involves a brush with the Divine.  And each encounter with the Divine increases our appetite for more.  Through that satiation, we experience increased longing for a deeper taste and fuller knowing of God.”[2] 

This longing may be expressed in a myriad of ways.  Maybe to serve others in love, or to spend more time in deliberate prayer or meditation, or maybe to spend more time in nature, or perhaps to gather with others who share similar desires, or ultimately to long for that “far country” that God has prepared for us.  It is that longing which motivates us to move further out and further into God’s Love, but at the same time causes us to sit back and simply enjoy Being in the Presence of God, however that might appear.

Again, I think of my grandchildren, who couldn’t wait to don their costumes and go out to gather the goodies.  And then, having returned, to take stock of all that they had received.  To sit in the splendor of all that they had been given, carefully examining each piece in turn, like a jeweler would do with a fine diamond, to determine which one was of greatest value.

That type of desire, that type of longing for Divine Love is what the awakening and awareness of God looks like.  But here is the difference; we don’t have to go looking for it.  We don’t have to put on a costume or pretend to be someone or something that we’re not.  Divine Love doesn’t demand that we clean ourselves up or try to give the impression to be someone we’re not.  God comes to us disguised as our life.  Divine Love invites us to recognize the Divine Presence that is not only with us, but within us. And having received it, to relish it and rejoice in it, like the proverbial kid in a candy shop. 

What do you long for?

How do you experience Divine Love?

What does it mean for you to be fully alive in the Presence of God?

---

[1] “The Awakening Call”, by James Finley.  p 58

[2] “Spirituality and the Awakening Self”, by David Benner, p. 82