Burning Bushes and Holy Ground

Perhaps it is only me, but I seldom notice when I am standing on holy ground. My hindsight is 20/20, not so much my foresight. What a loss that is!  

Moses saw an unusual sight. A bush that was burning and not consumed. He immediately went to investigate. And his attentiveness was rewarded with a most powerful encounter with God. God tells him to take off his shoes because he is standing on holy ground. Moses was rewarded with learning God’s name.  And, God’s name was I AM.

This passage has always touched my heart. Mostly because I know I often miss God’s opportunities to hear his voice. When God says to me, “Take off your shoes, this is Holy Ground.” And God does speak those words to you and me in ways as powerful as that burning bush was to Moses. Very often, we don’t notice the burning bushes all around us.

God gives us all Holy Ground moments when He speaks to us. God gives us Holy Ground moments when He whispers His name in our ear. When He says, “Look at me, this is who I AM.”

The other night a dear friend called me. We made small talk for a while, and then there was a silence on the line. After a moment, he began to tell me about his encounter with God in the deepest part of his soul. He shared with me his pain, his journey with God, and his faith. That conversation was a burning bush. God was there in the sharing. It was Holy Ground. In the tenderness of that  conversation God breathed His name,  “I AM Intimacy.”

In the 1980s, when I was working with high school kids in a parish in northern New York, I experienced a burning bush. Two 16-year-old boys at a high school retreat came to me to tell me they were being abused. Sitting on a rocky point at Saranac Lake with those boys sitting beside me with tears running down their faces was Holy Ground. God was there comforting them and bringing them peace. God breathed His name sitting out on those rocks.  In the softest breeze He said, “I AM Vulnerability.”

Fourteen months ago, my mother was dying. I came home and lay next to her on her bed at the end of the day. I told her about my day. By that time, she could no longer speak except with her eyes. Laying next to her in bed, I told her she was dying and that she would see God. I painted a picture with my words for her of the wonder of heaven. And when I placed her in the arms of God, it was Holy Ground. God whispered in my ear, “I AM Eternal Love.”

There are many times in my life when there has been a burning bush right in front of me. And, the ground I stood on was holy.  And when I listened I heard God speak.  He said, “I AM…”

The point is, I am not unique. We are all constantly called to see the burning bushes and take off our shoes before God like Moses. If only we have eyes clear to see His presence.  

I encourage you to remember your Holy Ground moments and celebrate them. What was God speaking to you? What was He revealing about himself? What was His name?

Holy Ground was not just about Moses and God. Burning bushes are not of another era. Holy Ground is all around us. Over and over again, God calls to us in the everydayness of our lives. If we are attentive enough, we will see His burning bushes surrounding us. God is constantly gifting us with His name. God is forever revealing Himself to us if we have eyes clear to see Him and ears willing to hear. 

We need only to trust enough to take off our shoes and be vulnerable before God. Again and again God gives us His name. God gives us Himself.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen