The last few weeks I have been reading the book "Walking with God" by John Elderedge. I love his style of writing and was really touched my his best-seller, "Wild at Heart". I think that any life coaching that you can have that helps you hear the voice of God and walk closer with him has to be worth the investment.

My pattern whilst reading the book has been pretty consistent. I take my coffee, sit at the table in the garden, quieten my heart (yes it's amazing even early in the morning my brain is bombarding me with to do lists, worries and irrelevancies) and then begin to read. With a pen in my hand and underline, journal and weigh Elderedge's words against my experience. The challenge however is to discover the authentic voice of God.

It has been such a pleasure to spend time in the garden. I am surprised. I have never been a garden sort of a guy. Since moving house we have worked hard to transfer a nice space into our garden. There is still lots of work to do but it is getting there and it's such a privilege to be part of the work in progress. Initially as I took my book and my strong black coffee into the the outdoors I was struck by a number of things. The colours, the scent of the roses and the distant hum of traffic on the road to the airport. As I became aclimatised to the sound and the sights, I began to notice other things. In the tree nearby I could hear wood pigeons. By putting seeds on the ground they began to regularly drop onto the lawn. After a couple of days the began to venture closer to where I sat. The were not nervous when they spotted me. On another day I saw that however early I got there, I was never there before the bees dancing on the flowers. More recently I saw the intricate threads of many many spiders webs. Few would make it to their full fly-catching potential but the sheer number of silk strands was outstanding.

Today, I got up extra early. Following my usual pattern I headed out to my favourite seat. A dry night meant that I did not need to spend time drying the chair and table. I just sat. As I looked at the book I realised I would most likely finish it on this sitting. As I began to focus on God I began to ask the question "Lord in what way can I hear you more clearly now?" Thoughts came straight to me. I had embraced key words that God had dropped into my heart - Focus, despondency, generosity. I considered things I had seen in His word. Lessons from the life of Pau, Jesus, David and Abel to name but a few. The reality that I could trust the verses he was whispering into my mind. So much more....

An then. Something happened. Something changed. I heard something. There was a subtle shift. I looked up and on the branch of a sun flower I saw a blue tit.

It was so tiny. So light. In fact it flew onto the head of a flow

er and the stem only moved slightly. In moving around the garden I realised it made almost no sound. And yet. It made some sound and I could hear it. I had edited out all the sound of the traffic in the distance. The coo of the wood pigeons and the caw of the rooks was the background harmony to the melody of the movement of this tiny birds' wings. How could I hear this? It did not make sense. Then it did. It did make sense. I had attuned my self the sound of the garden. I knew its sounds so that anything that was out of the norm, was instantly recognised as such.

I knew that this was God's pleasure to show me this truth. His truth. "When you seek me with all you heart you will find me" (Deut 4:29). In my intentionality in Seeking with Him, Walking with Him, listening for Him and to Him, he showed me how he visits with me. He is the God who appears in the still small voice (1 Kings 19:12).  I loved that he authenticates Himself in His word:

"Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." 
~ Jeremiah 29:12-13

Life doesn't get much better than this. I was made for days like this.