Welcome to the first entry of thoughts. It’s challenging to know where to begin in a world where words are many and life is too busy to read most of them. It’s tempting to begin with Covid and all that we are learning from this new view of day to day reality. It’s tempting to try and find a deeply significant insight to impart. But I will begin with this….
God is present
The simplest of sentences which will evoke a thousand different responses …
- If He is, then where is He?
- …
- Yes that’s my reality I’m profoundly thankful.
… and everything on the spectrum in between. Responses which reflect the reality of each person’s journey through this life.
There will always be times when God seems absent and we respond with despair and anger. Times when his comfort and indwelling presence seem so real that it can readjust the way that we see our circumstances and our perspective on our world. My hope is that I can always be honest about where I am in this journey. Never pretending to sense his nearness when I don’t. Never pronouncing that you or I are at fault when he seems distant. Always willing to ask the questions:
- How do I hold on?
- How do I sit with a knowledge that somewhere He is holding me?
Conversely, how do I embed times of certainty to sustain me and nourish my awareness of God? These questions we sit with, with honesty, either on our own or with discerning company. And each time we pause we take a step, whether recognised or not. And each step implies that we are not stuck but are moving, changing, growing.
How do you honestly respond to the statement, ‘God is present’… in this moment… as you read this?
Are you shouting, whispering or simply speaking? Is there anguish, delight or numbness? In a world so full of words, take time to listen, there is always an answer even if the answer is silence.