I wanted to take a photo of a beautiful double rainbow with the camera on my smartphone. But a message came up on the phone telling me I couldn’t take the photo because the storage drive on my phone was full and I had to delete some photos. By the time I had deleted enough photos, the rainbow was gone!
I was sure there would eventually be another opportunity to get such a photo, but I spotted a spiritual lesson in this experience.
A question came to me: Is the “storage drive” of my consciousness full—full of past memories, events, and images, however delightful or sad they may be? If so, then it may be a struggle to hear fresh, new ideas from God, divine Mind, ideas that are always available to each one of us to be accepted and acted on.
Even dwelling on the good in our past, such as lovely memories of happy family gatherings, can block us from being open to receiving fresh, new ideas from God unfolding to our thought today.
A few years ago I went to a beach, and I parked my car facing the sea. No one else was around. Suddenly, it felt as if a wave came out of the sea and washed away all the happiness of the day. It was a wave of nostalgia. This beach was a place my family had been to many times and enjoyed together. But now there was no one here to enjoy it with me.
However, I had begun the day yearning to know more of what it means to love God “because he first loved us” (First John 4:19). This yearning was a prayer. As I had driven over the mountains to reach the beach, God had been answering that prayer by showing me His goodness—His spiritual qualities—reflected through beautiful scenes of nature that touched my heart. I saw the love of God reflected all around me, and this had made me feel full of love.
God had answered my prayer so fully that now, at the beach, I was ready to receive even more of that goodness and love.
Within minutes, my cellphone rang with a call from a friend. I could have hugged her for calling me right then. We chatted for a while, and then I moved on with my day. The nostalgia simply left.
I saw this as a kind of reminder to always be ready for—receptive to—God’s messages of love that are constantly coming to us, and not to be focused on the past. Sadness and loneliness didn’t stand a chance of filling up my thoughts because I was open to receiving God’s love, which was expressed for me in such a tangible way.
That is the nature of God’s grace. It is unlimited, unconfined, and so powerful that it can cut through anything and lift us up to experience only goodness, when we are ready to receive this grace. So, make sure you’re ready and receptive to the good God is giving you today!
