Recently I wrote a post about “those other gods” in which I speculated that the reason we are so reluctant to acknowledge spiritual phenomena in our lives is not that we’re such faithful Christians, but that we’re such faithful rationalists; i.e., it’s not as children of God that we dismiss everything “unscientific” as superstition, but as children of the Enlightenment. 

Is there a faithful Christian who, in moments of doubt or distress, has not opened the Bible and let it fall to a passage in order to “see” the answer to that doubt and distress? Are we not given signs and wonders in the natural, physical world that we may understand as supernatural, metaphysical?  

A few examples: trees, black dogs, birds, serpents, cats. Also, sudden winds, inexplicable darkness and sudden shadows as well as flashes of light which seem to come from nowhere, the sudden presence of beautiful fragrance without any source. Sometimes, choral singing of no known melody, a violin-like sound that pierces the heart, or distant drums. For some people, it’s bodies of water—or wild horses.

I don’t have a problem with this. I don’t think it’s primitive or “ignorant.” Maybe because I carry the DNA of my English country ancestors, but I do think the Holy Spirit may speak to us in symbolic language that he knows we’ll understand, even if that level is too deep for rational “enlightened” minds to grasp. And through some of this language, I’ve been assured about some things, alerted about others, and prepared for certain sorrows. I don’t require a scientific explanation of my guardian angel’s rare but trusted messages. Thus, I was spiritually prepared when I knew that “something like” my mother’s death was coming. I was also made to accept the death of a beloved companion as imminent, and I was forewarned of the betrayal of a trusted friend. When signs come, I don’t understand them; I only know that it’s a sign. Afterwards, I understand it. And I recognize that the purpose of the sign was to alert or warn me, prepare me to accept something I am unable to allow into the realm of possibility, or to reassure or comfort me in the midst of sorrow, pain, or fear.