Stirrings

I remember when I was about three years old that I thought it was magical when I stirred a few chocolate chips into my bowl of warm vanilla pudding, it changed color and became chocolate!

Whenever we start to mix something into a liquid, the first stirring does not do much. It takes successive revolutions of the spoon to get things combined. At first, not much happens!

While at Lebh Shomea, I read a book about The Cloud of Unknowing by William Johnston and was struck by a short section about "stirring":

"The true stirring of God does not come through any of the senses, nor does it come from reasoning but from abundance of love welling up in the heart:

"'Look that thy stirrings to silence or to speaking, to fasting or to eating, to oneliness or to company, whether they come from within of abundance of love and devotion in spirit and not from without by windows of they bodily wits, they ears and thine eyes.'" (121)

Johnston, William. The Mysticism of the Cloud of Unknowing. NY: Desclee Co., 1967.

First stirrings of love or happiness may not be noticed, but in awareness these may be discerned earlier; then acted upon sooner.

In more modern language, we might say "nudges." However, I prefer to think of the stirrings, like the ways I began to stir the chocolate chips into the warm pudding.