In the biblical book of 1 Kings, the prophet Elijah is frantic in the wake of violence and threats he’s helplessly witnessed. He flees in fear for his life, into the wilderness, where only by the instruction of angels is he able to eat and drink enough to cling to life.
Eventually, God calls out to Elijah, making God’s presence known through a dramatic series of events—a “great and mighty wind” that splits mountains and shatters rocks, an earthquake, and a fire.
The text tells us, “but the Lord was not in…” the wind, the earthquake or the fire. Instead, God’s voice came to Elijah after these natural wonders ceased. God’s voice came to Elijah, in various translations, as “a soft murmuring sound” or as “a still, small voice.”
This passage is an object lesson in how to connect with your positive inner voice, with the version of your true, authentic, and positive self that can guide you through each day, year, indeed through your whole life.
Just as Elijah knew God’s power caused the wildly dramatic wind, earthquake, and fire, we often witness the loud, brash, intimidating aspects of the world and our place in it.
But just as in Elijah’s moment in the wilderness, the loud things in our lives eventually quiet. And in that silence, we can listen more deeply, noticing with more intention what the soft murmurations, the still smallness of our inner voices have to say.
In the Bible story, God is present in both the loud and soft volumes. So, too, do the most powerful parts of yourself exist in powerful, assertive moments as well as quiet, contemplative ones.
Let’s celebrate that today, that juxtaposition of loud and quiet—and the opportunity each new day brings us to connect with our positive inner voice simply by knowing that after the fires and quakes of life, a soft stillness will always, eventually, call to us from deep inside.
