Becoming a receiver

How do I receive? If I consider this question, it can help me become the receiver I need and want to be. It's a question that helps me look at how I already am receiving. It's also a question that helps me look at the kind of receiver I can become.

From time to time I'll add some notes that help a person grow into receiving.

When I am receiving the Word as spirit and life, I don't come as a problem-solver. I don't come for the purpose of "figuring out" what I don't understand. I come to receive what the Spirit of God highlights for me. A highlight may be in the form of a big new realization, or it may be, as it more often is, a gentle awareness. Whether bold and unavoidable, or gentle and inviting, the awareness is recognized for its light and potential. I gladly take in those highlights and let them brighten and lead to related highlights. This kind of receiving goes from light to additional light; from meaning to fuller and fuller meaning.

The highlights happen in my heart--the center of my whole being. I ponder the highlights in my heart where feeling, thinking, will and every other aspect of my being are most keen and concentrated. That pondering takes me into the spirit and life of the Word more and more.