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Does God only live in here?
Recently, I’ve seen a lot of pictures and posts on Facebook alleging that shootings, bullying, or any number of tragic or thoughtless events are just what we get when we take God out of schools, workplaces, or government.
Do we have the power to put God in a school, or to take Him out? Does God depend on whether or not employers or politicians say the Lord’s Prayer, or on if they see the Ten Commandments every day? If so, this makes God a very conditional God indeed.
Now, if this does line up with your concept of God, I’m not here to try to change your mind. In fact, regardless of what you believe, I’d love to have a conversation with you (through the comments, or you can email me) about how and why you understand God the way you do. However, in this blog, and considering the prevalence of that particular conditional view, I’d like to share a bit of how I understand and love God.
What if God isn’t anthropomorphic? What if God is actual, divine, Life itself – is actually good itself?
I don’t see God as a polite man who backs away when someone doesn’t want to say the Lord’s Prayer. The redeeming, healing power of God’s love isn’t limited to folks who say or even know a particular passage from the Bible. Rather, God is divine Love itself.
What if God shepherds and loves everything and everyone?
God is not confined to specific letters or combinations of words. God is ever present – and a deeper and more lived and loved understanding of this always brings healing. Healing is the revealing of what God has already done. Why shouldn’t we give our consent to trusting and loving God more than we trust and love anything else? Why should we give our consent to believing that we could limit God – that, essentially, we are more powerful than God?
Here’s a story from a man who, even though he started off having no interest in God, experienced full healing from a variety of physical problems. Now he’s devoted his life to a public healing practice (as have I and thousands of others around the world).
As always, this blog isn’t meant to be the end of the conversation! Please share your thoughts and questions and let’s see what we can discover together.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.
-Proverbs 3
Ever wondered about if you can find ‘the one?’ And maybe wondered if God cares about this particular aspect of your life, or if there’s some prayer that might help?
Your life isn’t a game of connect-the-dots, with ‘the one’ being a dot you hope to reach. God’s guidance of your life isn’t changeable or conditional. Through studying and practicing Christian Science, I’ve learned that unchanging Principle (a synonym for God) will do much more than help you. Its our growing understanding of God which illuminates the presence of all good, including love, in our lives.
I was dating someone, and I really thought she was ‘the one.’ The problem was, she had just told me that she felt we should just be friends. This didn’t seem like an effective detour on the road to happiness together. We continued to spend the next week hanging out and we still had a really nice time just being friends. After she left, though, I kept praying for us to get back together.
After another week of that kind of prayer, I finally realized my thought was focused on what I knew I wanted, rather than asking what God knew, and she and I discussed this together. Now, for the first time, I prayed to know what God knew, rather than how to make this person love me. I became filled with a very strong sense of the need to let go – let go of my definition of how things needed to go, let go of my fears of another relationship down the tubes, let go of trying to make something happen.
This uplifting prayer continued all night, and brought such a sense of peace. I felt so sure of the unconditional presence of divine Love. I realized that God’s guidance wasn’t going to fit in that connect-the-dots analogy. Rather, this growing assurance of the omnipotence of Love made it clear that I would never be lost or outside of good. Along with this, all fear about losing ‘the one’ had vanished.
We continued to grow and to support each other through various trials, and our friendship soon blossomed into marriage. My guidance in this relationship hasn’t been God pulling or pushing me through various options. Instead, the more aware I am of the presence of Love, the more clear it is that I could never lose love – and I love to be with her as we continue to explore together.
Do you have any stories of how you’ve seen God’s guidance – in love, career, weekend plans? Please share – I’d love to hear your stories, insights, and questions!
-i took both photos in this post, using the Instagram app on iPhone, while on a hike up to South Sister, near Bend, Oregon, USA-
Today, I’m very grateful for all the opportunities we have, where we can enjoy the good that others have shared and realize more clearly that we have that same good to share.
This is certainly sort of a continuation of the theme from my last post!
I love seeing the good that others share! It reminds me of the good that I can share, as well. Why? Because “their” good is sourced in the same Cause as “my” good: God. God did not divide up goodness for some, success for others, attractiveness for others, and slick business skills for others. God IS, and therefore, God is expressed – in good, love, joy, for all. So every time I see good in someone else, or get to appreciate the good that another person is sharing, I get to revel with them in OUR good.
The great thing is, this rejoicing is not conditional on being able to go hang out in some thriving downtown, or being savvy with using social media, or being in some (supposedly) “model” family or relationship. God never separates you from all His good, from any of Her substance, and along with that good comes the perfect opportunity to witness and express.
Today, will you join me in loving to see good, to share good, and to trust the presence of good?
You might enjoy this fun, inspirational and illuminating video that a friend shared with me today.
Enjoy this great day!
