“How does God communicate with you?” An interesting question. When people were asked, many of them answered, they receive signs. Signs, miracles, coincidences, feelings of deja vu, gut feelings, intuitive voices all come from God. A few months ago, I attended a friend’s birthday celebration. I knew I didn’t want to stay too late and told myself I would leave the party by midnight.

It was a small gathering of old friends and I lost track of time as I enjoyed the company. While dancing, a feeling came over me that said, “Go home, you’re done,” even though the party was in full swing. One of my closest friends was saying her goodbyes and I asked her the time. It was 11:45, so I joined her in kissing and hugging everyone and we walked outside together. On the freeway, I noticed the clock on the dashboard, which is exactly a minute too fast, read 12:01. A sign! A confirmation that I heard the right thing, “Go, rest and stick with your intention.”

I called my friend that left the party with me to tell her about the sign. We’ve known each other for more than 25 years and have experienced a lot together. To paraphrase the scripture of Simon and Garfunkel, I’m sure we’ll be “sharing a park bench quietly . . . at seventy.” When we were younger, we’d always used to say, “That’s a sign,” if we said something at the same time, saw 11:11 on the clock or heard a song on the radio.

Maybe it become too cliche, and we didn’t know what the signs meant, or we thought it was immature or worse yet maybe, we just didn’t recognize them anymore. So over the years, we stopped saying it to each other. We talked about how signs sometimes just confirm what we already know. After all, these messages are everywhere, like the song says, “Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs.” Receptivity, a willingness is all we need to get the assurance that we’re on the right path. Or like reading a map, signs can tell us which way to go. As I hung up with my dear, old friend, I turned on the radio and “our” song began to play, “Old Friends” by Simon and Garfunkel. Another reminder to look for the signs!