Suddenly

Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

Act 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

How many are waiting for a suddenly from God? I hate to be the one bearing bad tidings, but this will never happen. Suddenlies do not happen in the Kingdom of God. The never have and they never will.

I offer the two verses above to extend this matter further to you. In each one the “suddenly” came as a result of a shift in perception of the person(s) involved. The “suddenly” was an unexpected event in time. In an eternal realm where God is all-knowing, how could something ever be “unexpected”?

A “suddenly” in your life is a reactive mechanism of your ego. The purpose of your ego to insure your survival at all costs. You’ve probably heard of the “fight or flight response” in animals. In fact, it is fight, flight or freeze. Each of these responses are means to the assessment of the danger which the animal is confronted with and how best to survive the threat.

This is what perception is about: assessing the available information within a given situation to make a choice of actions. The trouble with our perception is that it never has all the information required to make a well-form decision for action. You know this to be true if you ever experienced a “suddenly.” New data came unexpectedly which changed the entire scope of the situation causing an expansion of your perception.

Across the nation there is a freeway system which allows traffic to drive at a speed higher than can be traveled on the side roads. This system has multiple lanes running in both directions and there are a few chosen exits which allow the drivers to leave the freeway to travel into the communities which are dotted along the route. In many locations there is also a frontage road which runs parallel to the freeway which allows drivers to turn onto many other roads which come up to the freeway but don’t access it directly. There are times when a frontage road will merge with a freeway and then later divert from the freeway.

Consider this: The frontage road is your perception. The speed is comfortable for you; it has many roads coming up to it, some you have been down often yet, many roads you have never driven down, you only know they are there. The freeway is what the eternal realm is like, fast with few diversions. There may be a day when you’re travelling down the frontage road and “suddenly” you’ve merged onto the freeway. You speed up to keep from causing an accident. The scenery is speeding by, but you don’t have time to look at it cause you’re trying to keep yourself in your lane. Then, suddenly, you’re back on the frontage road and slowing down to match the pace of those there too.

In this example your daily perceptions travel a well-known path towards your journey in life. In a moment you intersect with the divine realm, and everything speeds up and you’re trying to navigate the territory around you relying on your old perceptions. Unless you adapt to a new mindset, your old perception will pull you out of the divine realm back onto your well-worn path. Suddenly only occurs in a moment of time. It’s what you do after that moment which marks your life’s trajectory.

We live in time-based reality. We are fixated on what happened yesterday, last year, decades and centuries ago. Or we are planning events which will happen in an hour, tomorrow, next week, a year or more. Rarely do we ever stop to experience the moment called Now. It is only here in this moment of time where we can experience the eternal realm in its fullness. It is here where you meet the God who is all-present, all-knowing, all-powerful, Love.

Only here will your perceptions be smashed and expanded in the same instance. Only here in Now will you understand through experience what Oneness is. Only in Now will you realize the abundance of life all around you. It is in Now where the corrective lens of Grace will radically alter your comprehension of Being All in All.

Now is the time. Focus on Now. Suddenlies disappear in Now.