I awaken to a clear phrase in my mind. It’s a good phrase, full of meaning for me, and I know immediately it belongs in the introduction to the new book.

The Lord has made it clear it’s time to begin the book, and I’ve been working to clear the decks. Assuming He is giving me this key thought, I write it down, lest the life in my day overwrite it. As I scribble messy words in my journal, more come. A phrase becomes a paragraph, then becomes a section. I think we’ve begun the book!

I go to prepare my morning tea. Waiting for the water to boil, I choose a song from my “Intimate Worship Favs” playlist. I’ve overlooked this particular song for some time, so I don’t remember specific lyrics. My player repeats the song while I putter to my morning chair and settle in.

Sipping the creamy tea and listening more intently now in stillness, I realize suddenly that the phrase I heard upon awakening is soaring from the artist’s beautiful voice. In fact, that phrase is the refrain of her song!

A joy tide rises in my soul, until I am so stirred I cannot sit still. I abandon my cup of tea and dance. Yes, in my living room, in my pajamas, in the near dark. It’s a private moment of worship that makes us both happy.

Wait! In the midst of my worship, a realization, and a sense of you grinning at me, Lord: You’ve been dropping breadcrumbs since I awoke, leading me to see how very present you are. Each one I picked up led me closer, like Dory’s seashells, to you, my Home. To your participation in my life.

A phrase of truth dropped in my mind. A thought about a book. A “random” song choice.

At the end, there you are, my Holy Spirit friend, waiting for me, smiling and happy, having awakened my soul to a truth; to a creative way to write something; to YOU.  You’ve been at work in my sleepy morning, lining up seashells like breadcrumbs, leading me to joy. Each breadcrumb noticed and lingered over led to another from your generous hand.

I think back over the years. Like Dory’s seashells, you have created dozens of breadcrumb trails to lead me where you wanted to meet: on a project, on a matter of the heart, on a journey I didn’t know how to otherwise navigate. A dear friend of mine speaks of these occasions too, and speaks of how the Lord uses little things to “make a bid for my attention.”

In this passion of mine to help people know the Lord in real ways, I’m always looking for a way to explain how one experiences life with this invisible God. He vows that through Christ He is present to His child, always, but most struggle to believe and enjoy His Presence. I’m often asked, “How do I do that?” People are always looking for hints on how to live the spiritual life.

The answer that bobs to the surface repeatedly, is attentiveness. Paying attention, while you live from total faith that God IS present. Faith combined with attentiveness means you simply notice a clue the Lord leaves, which you turn aside to and touch.

It’s impossible to ignore a burning bush, which doesn’t wait for your attention, it arrests it. But burning bushes don’t happen often. And when we hear of some testimony about a big sign the Lord has given someone else, we are joyfully jealous at their fortune, and sigh a wish for our own.

All the while, quite possibly, missing our own little humble breadcrumbs while looking for the Big Sign.

The Lord is delighted with those who have faith in His presence. He loves it when your heart lives in quiet attentiveness and alertness to His activity. And as with all things in the economy of our Lord’s kingdom, those who have — who notice the breadcrumb, pick it up to possess it, and look for more — shall be given more to find. (Mark 4:25)

I’ve seen the movie “Finding Dory” three times. Every time, at the end, I am overcome with tears of joy, flowing from a place in me that recognizes exactly what the hopelessly lost Dory feels when she realizes her parents have lived their lives making seashell trails to show her the way home. The trails radiate out like spokes on a wheel, to catch her attention in every possible direction.

I have been Dory so many times: lost, handicapped, hunting for answers — then suddenly discover that God in His love has been at work building trails everywhere I might wander, to help me find my way home to Him.

Pay attention, dear one, pay attention to the Presence of God with you. Live as if He is with you, because He is. He is like the invisible glue whose design you cannot see until you throw glitter on it.

Paying attention, in faith, is key to knowing your God.  Add attentiveness to faith in God’s desire be at home with you, always.

If you have a breadcrumb story, I’d love to hear it.

Tonia