you know that still, small voice in your head? not the crazy one......the one that's God.
i didn't grow up being taught that the voice in my head is God but rather, that it was my "conscience" or my "common sense" or some other non-divine thing. i didn't grow up being taught that if it snowed on my birthday it was because God arranged that - i grew up believing that if it snowed on my birthday it was because the atmosphere and the temperature and some condition way out in the pacific ocean caused it to snow on a day that just so happened to be my birthday. sure, God could have arranged it to snow on my birthday, but He didn't. He had bigger fish to fry.
i was taught to vaccinate children, not to not vaccinate them and if God doesn't want them to get rubella, they won't get rubella.
my parents told me that God helps those who help themselves. (no wonder they're republicans.)
my teachers told me to study. i don't recall a single one of them ever telling me to go light on the studying and big on the praying and if i do that, i'll end up valedictorian.
one of my mom's favorite pieces of advice was "do things in the right order. finish your education, THEN get a (good) job, THEN get married (if you want), THEN have children (if you want). reverse any of that and you're in a big mess."
she never once said, "do whatever you want whenever you want, put the cart before the horse if you feel like it, just know that God will guide you and won't let you get lost."
my dad is smart. he's one of the smartest people i know, maybe THEE smartest person i know. he loves the Lord, and he figures the reason the Lord gave him a good brain is because the Lord wants him to use it.
and he does.
and he taught me to use mine, too.
"God helps those who help themselves." THAT'S what was for dinner at my house - not beef.
but, as an adult, i have run into more and more people who rely heavily - some even solely - on the voice that isn't their conscience but the voice that (they believe) is God's.
i don't know how to distinguish the two. or if there even are two. and regardless if there's one or there are two, i don't know whose i am hearing. everyone else seems clear about who is talking. i am not.
everyone's talkin' at me/i can't hear a word they're sayin'/only the echoes of my mind..........
