We can notice God’s presence when we look at our lives and remember that God is the source of all goodness
The Old Testament and New Testament are filled with God inviting us to be in His presence. People sometimes will seek out His presence, even if they haven’t heard the invitation. Jesus warns us about seeking God’s presence only when we need something or we’re in trouble, but we frequently do just that. Perhaps while reading this column, we can recall God’s invitation to be in His presence, and we can become more attentive to the presence of God.
God is always with us in ordinary and extraordinary ways, so being in His presence isn’t a matter of finding God. We just need to be more conscious of being in the presence of God. It’s our spiritual practice to learn how to be attentive to and notice how God is always with us.
One way to do this is to make a retreat, where we choose to spend time away from our routines. We often go to a special place, often a beautiful place, where people help us remember the practices that sharpen our awareness of God’s presence. Retreats frequently ask participants to put aside phones and digital connections to pay attention to what is directly around us. We may walk through nature, listen to music and listen to talks or reflections. We take a few deep breaths and notice once again that not only is God faithful in extraordinary ways, but He also is present to us with every beat of our heart and every breath that we take. One of the ancient practices to become aware and attentive to the presence of God is to pay attention to the rhythm of our breathing, and even to say some special words, with each breath becoming an inner chant that might lead us to deeper awareness. Those special times of retreat are important, giving us concentrated time to readjust our lives to the inner workings of God‘s presence with us, but they are not our everyday life. How do we abide in God’s presence through the ordinary times of our lives?
For people who live in great convenience and luxury, it is essential that we enter into the deeper level of ordinary life. Many of us have become entitled to the things that we have and simply take them for granted. Consciousness of the presence of God entails becoming aware of the ordinary gifts that God gives us. When the alarm goes off in the morning, instead of cursing it, we can listen to our first breath and thank God for the gift of life. That breath is gift given to us from God and is a reminder of His presence with us.
As we get ready for the day and get a drink of water and brush our teeth or shower, we can be grateful that safe water is an ordinary gift to us from God, a reminder of His presence with us.
When we begin to prepare breakfast, we can become aware of the incredible options for food and nourishment that we have and let them become a reminder of the faithful presence of God.
Eventually, we will make your way to some closet that is filled with more than enough clothes. How incredibly blessed and privileged we are. When we get dressed, let that clothing be a sign of God’s faithful presence to us rather than complaining that it’s not the latest style. God’s gift to us is to give us shelter and clothing.
Abiding in God’s presence doesn’t mean that we have to go to some special place on some special week with some special person. It simply means paying attention to what is already happening in our blessed lives and remembering that God is the source of all life, all goodness and is always with us.
