God in Everything

Thanks to Roger Johnson for this:

I’ve just returned from a staff meeting where the opening devotions centred upon the theme ‘God in Everything’. People shared how they had experienced God in the simple, everyday things of life. We reflected upon our journey to the meeting and the way in which we had been surprised by a special moment in which God’s presence came upon us unexpectedly.

For some it was a smile shared with a complete stranger at the petrol station or when walking in the street - for another it was a sudden flash of sunlight on a desolate landscape – for another it was sad news being received in a gentle and warm manner.

Many books have been written about the way God has shown up at the most unexpected moments – a time of depression, a time of bereavement or a similar time of struggle when we felt that God was distant. It’s not that God plays ‘hide and seek’ with us but rather that our expectation of God’s presence is too closely tied up with good times and not difficult times. The Bible is full of divine encounters which happened when people were at a low ebb – Elijah in the cave, Job assailed by disasters, Simon Peter after the resurrection beside the Sea of Galilee – you can probably add many more.

Sometimes God breaks in to our lives in strange incidents which only become meaningful months or years later. I remember when I was a very young Christian that I was in a Christian bookshop in Cambridge. As I browsed the shelves I knocked a book on the floor. As I stooped down to pick it up, although I knew nothing about it, I felt compelled to buy it. The book was ‘The Imitation of Christ’ by Thomas à Kempis. It was only later as I started to benefit from these ancient meditations that I realised I was treading a well-worn path.

As some of us will be winding down for a summer break, perhaps this is a time to ask God to reveal himself to us in new ways which will energise us when we return in September. The photo at the top of this bulletin* is a reminder of the beauty, harmony and intricacy of nature – something which, if only we take the time to observe, is rich with revelations of God’s nature. Jesus was constantly pointing people to natural things around them when explaining the truth about the Kingdom of God – a man sowing seeds, yeast in the bread, mustard seeds, birds of the air and so forth. Indeed he helped us to realise that the Kingdom of God, rather than being ‘otherworldly’ can be experienced in the ‘here and now’.

Stephen Cottrell in his recent book ‘Do nothing to change your life’ advocates regularly switching off and doing nothing for three minutes in order to experience God’s presence in your life. He stood on a London station giving out egg-timers to help people to do this.

There’s no better time than on holiday to practice the discipline of seeking God in the unexpected and everyday moments of life.

*the photo is mine, not Roger's, and shows part of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path West of Cardigan