Are you struggling and cannot seem to find your way out of the maze? Have you found you keep repeating the same mistakes? Have you not been listening to your first mind? If any of these circumstances and situations describe your life condition - keep reading and you might just notice there is a way out of the maze! 

More often than not our struggle comes from not listening. Our repeat lessons come from not listening. Our lack of effectiveness comes from not listening to our “first mind” and what God is really saying to us everyday.

Consider this:  

There I was in another country and lodging near a casino. As I walked breezy and easy past the entrance to the casino I heard clearly “take $5.00 in there and play.” I thought that was ridiculous because I do not gamble and in my own private opinions find it insane to give money away and not get anything in return! Again, just my own thoughts about gambling. I instantly knew what there was for me to do: Tell my spouse to go inside and play the $5.00. Did I do that? No, I did not. I instead I became too busy, lazy, or something. I waited until two days later…

Well, as life would have it two days later, I was on my way out of my lodging area to do fun, exciting and easy things that people do on vacation. It was shortly thereafter while making a purchase on the vacation property I learned I was having problems with my credit cards working overseas. When I called to find out what was wrong, I learned that my cards were temporarily locked and my bank had made an error in my checking account that caused me to be overdrawn! When we are out of the country - are you kidding me? Did I also mention, that for once it was actually not my mis-management of money that caused my account to be overdrawn - it was the bank’s error! While that was temporarily comforting, it did not change the result. Back to the instruction of my “first mind”  two days ago… Well now, until the bank fixed their errors, it was clear the smart thing to do was to keep all the cash we had already withdrawn for the days we had left overseas —  and that is what we did. All annoying errors by the bank were corrected, we enjoyed the rest of our restful and fun vacation, and we did not play the $5.00 in the casino.

I share this story with you because I do not know if the $5.00 would have turned into more monies. Perhaps it would have turned into monies for which I could have paid off my school debt, built that extra wing on the church building that my pastor envisions, or invested in the local ministries of the Children’s Center, urban gardeners, or free health clinics. What I do know is that, had I been rigorously obedient in that moment, I would not be sharing this story. 

I assert that there are many occasions in our daily lives that God speaks to us through the ordinary occasions and circumstances. We cannot see the grand tapestry that God has for us - because we have limited human view. Some may call it our first mind or thought, some would call it spiritual instruction, and some would call it discerning possibilities. Whatever you might call it - seize those precious daily moments that God chooses to speak to you.Take the chance to be rigorously obedient and see what new opportunity the next moment will bring. The next new thought just might be Spirit directing you out of the maze. Now stop reading and go listen!