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Some Thoughts on Words of George Fox
By Sheila Shinn and Malcolm Edwards
During Meeting for Worship last First Day, I read these words by George Fox:
The Light is within you.
The Light will show you. . .
Therefore, all you that love the Light within you,
stand still in it. . .
Wait....
As I pondered this message, I had a sudden, but no doubt belated, revelation about my communication with the Spirit.
I usually am so busy doing the talking, the " thank yous, take cares and help me's" fill my "quiet" time. How annoying this
must be to God and probably should be to myself. I resolved to allow a two-way conversation by being still and allowing myself
a chance to listen.
Malcolm Edwards upon hearing this message spoke also and at the request of several kindly put it in writing.
The following is his response.
Listening to the quotation of George Fox led me to think about the examples of people to whom God spoke.
I thought about the struggle to listen for God and whether I would really be brave enough, because my first perspective
of those people hearing God seemed overwhelming for them. Jonah ran across the world to get away; Moses was
terrified on a mountaintop: Jeremiah was told to marry a prostitute, a woman who would break his heart so as to symbolize
God's relationship to Israel. Paul was blinded on the road to Damascus. The word of God caused those people to radically
alter their lives—beyond recognition. And so in light of the comment of George Fox, I wondered if I really did want that
attention from God.
But then I thought about what the other Friend shared about mundane but beautiful things opened to us, and perhaps,
I thought, those are ways God may speak to us, too. Maybe these work themselves into our lives like subtle honey, like finding
a parking spot or even being able to give a parking spot to someone else—maybe, this the Spirit talking, also. So, I ended up
amending my original thought and having myself consider what might be the entire spectrum of ways the Spirit may speak with us.
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