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YOU WANT THINGS DONE YOUR WAY, DON’T YOU 

While I was in the pool this morning, I recollected a conversation I had nearly 20 years ago. At the time, I was building a very large home.  I was general contracting it myself, so I hired a foreman to oversee the contractors. In one of our conversations, I was making it known that I wanted something done a certain way, my way.  The foreman was suggesting to me alternative ways, and I simply said,  “No, do it the way I want it done.”  To which he answered, “you want things done your way, don’t you.” As his boss, not embarrassingly, I said, “yes do it the way I want it.”  Of course, I felt as the boss I had every right to feel that way and to tell him how I felt so there would be no misunderstanding.

So why after so many years does a small seemingly unimportant conversation come back to my consciousness.  After many years of relations with the Holy Spirit, I have come to know that he connects and converses with me in several ways, so I am always on the lookout for what the Holy Spirit is trying to say to me and how he is trying to say it.

First and foremost, he speaks to us directly as I have been trying to show in this blog.  He also communicates to us through events.  That is, things happen in our lives, which makes us take stock of where we are with the Lord, which we otherwise would not do if the event did occur. Such events like the death of a loved one, financial setbacks, a divorce, or as I know from my work in Prison Ministry, being incarcerated.  In all these events, the Lord could be trying to communicate to you his will realizing that such an event in life would cause most souls to look at their relationship with God.  And they do not have to be bad events in life. They could also be good events like inheriting a lot of money, finding a mate to love and marry, a promotion at work or your kid graduating from College.  We always have to be looking for what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us in the events of our life.

Another method of the Holy Spirit communicating his will would be through dreams.  God spoke to many of his people through dreams as noted in the Bible; one of the most notable is a dream Joseph had after finding Mary was pregnant while they were betrothed to each other.  He was going to divorce her and send her on her way quietly, but an angel came to him and a dream telling him not to do that and to stay the course. 

I remember a dream I had many years ago where I was swimming from the mainland to an island. I had this dream over and over again.  With the help of my spiritual director at the time, I was able to interpret that dream as my wanting to get away from the world and spend private time with God. The island represents a place I could be alone, and nobody could get to me. The interpretation of this dream is what set me on the path of seeking alone time with God and was responsible for the serious beginning of my prayer life. 

Another way the Holy Spirit talks to us is through other people.  Statements that people make that we think has only human significance but carries much spiritual meaning.  This brings us to what my foreman said to me such a long time ago.  When he said, “you want things done your way, don’t you.” 

It was very clear at the time that he was talking about what I wanted to be done as his boss.  Now, all these years later the Holy Spirit has brought this very conversation back to my mind to tell me, he is feeling the same way as the foreman did and that is “you want things done your way, don’t you.” 

Why else would such an insignificant conversation from a long time ago be brought to my attention in the middle of a Sunday morning pool dip, if it was not for the Holy Spirit wanting to get this across to me?  The fact of the matter is this is the very thing I have been working on in my spiritual development, that is, for things to be less my way and more the way of Christ.

I know I like things my way that is what we humans are all about. However, we do not like to admit it. Now so many years after it was said to me,  you have the Holy Spirit using what another person said to converse with me to get his point across. The Holy Spirit is right on, and he knows I am working on not always wanting things my way, and I believe he knows how I am trying to surrender to Christ in all ways and that he is just reminding me of this through having me recall what my foreman said to me.

My prayer is for you to look for what the HolySpirit is trying to tell you through his speaking to you directly, in the events of your life, your dreams and through what other people say to you. If you are conscious of these lines of communication with the Holy Spirit, your life on earth will change for the good, and your spiritual development will deeply progress.