No (Good) Answers

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    The older (and hopefully wiser) we get the more we realize how few answers we have … at least to the really important and difficult questions. Life becomes less black and white and the shades of gray increase. We realize we have limitations and our capacity is sometimes stops short of what we would hope to get accomplished.

    As I grow in faith I realize that I do not have many answers, well, good answers. I may be able to answer a question but it is not necessarily a good one. As I grow in faith I realize more and more how mysterious God is and how much faith He calls for; the call to trust. I read about God and the lives of those He loves in the Bible and sometimes have no clue what to do with a foreign culture, story and actions that overwhelm me.

    The answers I had as a child no longer work or at least I have new questions the old answers do not address. I guess that is all part of growing up.

    It is during these times that God calls me to draw nearer. He calls me to faith and to trust although I do not know. I have no answers, at least good ones, yet God meets me in my questions.

    He may not answer you as you expected but He is faithful to meet you in your questions.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

The Gift of Inquiry

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    The gift of inquiry can take you deeper. The gift of inquiry helps to see farther into the words that we say and the beliefs that we hold on to. This gift can unleash the truth of our actions, reflecting why we do what we do. The right inquiry, the best questions often lead us to fuller, richer and truer understandings of ourselves, others and God.

    Inquiry comes in many forms – a good question, silence waiting for a response, a reflective statement or open-ended statement. A friend of mine asks many questions. Her questions are good, probing and demanding that I dig deeper into the words I exclaim. I often found myself frustrated because she would not just let me talk. She was giving me a gift, a gift that brought forth truer and richer things, things that I would have never seen if she did not slow me down.

    Jesus inquired often as well. He would ask a question that would slow someone down, possibly change the direction of their thinking and reveal their hearts and sometimes God’s heart. As you spend time in prayer, consider what Jesus might be asking you.

    How might you slow your prayers down and consider why you are saying what you are saying? How might Jesus want to take you deeper?

    PS A great inquiry statement/request when you offer this gift to another: “Tell me more.”

**Sit again for as long as is available to you.**