Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Dear God,

Sometimes we wait for you.  When you do not show up, we assume you are not interested, too busy or just absent.  But what if all that is untrue?  Just because you do not appear before our eyes in a particular way, we make assumptions that are simply not true.

Brother Lawrence, a monk who daily washed dishes, cleaned floors and did mundane work came to realize that he could "practice the presence of God" while he did his tasks.  The idea and the practice changed his life.  It can change our life too, O God.

I figured out that you, God, cannot not be present in our lives.  You never step away.  You may be disgusted by our behaviors, thoughts, beliefs and practices but because your love is eternal, you do not just rip it away from us.  Yes, biblical writers thought you were gone during long periods and that you no longer cared for the Hebrew people.  But if we step back a few steps and really think about it, it is flawed thinking to believe God is completely away.  How could God who fashioned the cosmos possibly be absent from all God made?  That would mean you could be with my neighbor but not me or vice versa or with that group of people but not the either or one nation over another.  What kind of God does that?

When darkness or difficulty comes and we cry out to you, we do not have to wait.  For we are breathing the same air as you.  We reside in the same space as you.  If your love is full, merciful and unconditional, we cannot step out of it because it reigns everywhere in all times, places and spaces.  Wherever we are, you are.  Waiting gives us opportunity to ponder your presence which can then take us "there".

Thank you,

Holy God,

for insights

that remind us

who you are

and who 

we are.

Forgive us

when we

rail at you

because we believe

you are 

far off.

Thank you

for your

wondrous presence

whether we

feel it,

see it

or know it

at the time

of our inquiry.

All praise

to you.

Yours, Andrea