Spiritual Antenna

I’ve been batting that topic – Spiritual Antenna – around in my head since I last updated this blog. I’ve been meditating on it, thinking about it, considering it and waiting for some direction with it. And the conclusion I’ve come to is that my spiritual antenna is either turned off, broken or on the wrong frequency.

The sad thing is it can happen often -- to me and to others. We’re in a society where there’s so much to do, so much we’re responsible for and everything is moving so fast. We have to hurry to work, hurry to eat, hurry to get the kids, groceries, wash the clothes, make some calls, pay the bills… well, you get the point.

When we fail to stay tapped into God then we miss out on hearing His voice. And in the process we ultimately miss out on sharing what He has for us to share with others. Like, for instance, the message He wants delivered through this blog.

You can also think of your spiritual antenna as discernment. If your antenna, or your discernment, is off then you’ll miss something important.

Like today. Here’s what happened to me. When you’re finished reading you decide whether my spiritual antenna was off or on the wrong frequency or if I’m second guessing myself too much.

Here it is: A man knocked on my door this afternoon and said he would cut my front lawn for $15. Well, almost every time someone knocks on my door I tell them no or that I don’t have the money or some other similar reason. Today, although I didn’t have extra money, I did have $15 and I thought it would be nice to surprise my husband with a cut lawn. (At least the front.)

I didn’t second guess the guy’s intentions. He told me he really needed gas money and I took him at his word. He cut the lawn. I asked if he had $5 because I only had a 20-dollar bill. He didn’t and to make a long story short he followed me to the corner gas station (“I have to get gas anyway,” he says.) where I got change.

He came into the store; we exchanged the money, said our thanks and went our separate ways. Kind of. I noticed that he didn’t go right to the register to pay for his gas, but he went toward the coolers where the drinks are. I didn’t turn and look so I don’t know if he purchased a soda, some water or liquor.

I tried pulling away slowly to see if he would come back out with something, but he didn’t come out before I was out of sight. So then I started asking myself what if I just helped an alcoholic purchase some liquor. I argued with myself: He did pull his car in front of a pump.

Back and forth I went:
He could have bought water since he just finished cutting grass.

I can be so gullible.

Then I remembered that my discernment is usually on target and even if he didn’t have the best of intentions I felt as if I did something good for my family and my husband. It wasn’t like he was a derelict on the street. He performed a service and was paid for it.

That got me back to thinking about my spiritual antenna. If I hadn’t already been doubting that my spiritual antenna was off or broken then I probably wouldn’t have given the situation a second thought. It’s not my place to judge what he did with the money and if he was dishonest then he’ll have to answer to God, not me.

I began to wonder what other situations we get ourselves into because we’re not tapped into God and have turned off our antennas. Are we dating the wrong people? Are we activity sinning in our lives? There can be a myriad of other situations that are avoidable, but because we refuse to commit wholly and truly to God we are missing out. Spiritually! (As opposed to literally.)

My challenge to you is to stay tapped in. Don’t let the pressures and responsibilities of life change the frequency of your spiritual antenna. God is waiting and willing for us to do our part, He has already done His.

Turn up the volume!

"Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different." -Katherine Mansfield