seeing more clearly
A few weeks ago I just had a crazy epiphany. I was sitting in a big open park on the north side of Chicago at a picnic table by myself. I think I was reading The Secret Message of Jesus. There was only one other person at the park; he was also reading…something good. I was in one of those contemplative moods, which I typically only enter into during a really provoking sermon at church. I think I was contemplative that day because it was a hard day. I had woken up to a call from my boss asking me to not come into work that day because he was not prepared for me to do a certain task; he’s pretty much an irresponsible mess. Being shunned from work, and with my cute wife off at school for the day, I just had to get away; I kind of felt like a dead log…or something. So I bundled up and took a 20-mile bike ride. 10 miles into my trip I stopped at the forementioned deserted park to read.
If you dig God, you may really enjoy seeing God in nature. So you, like myself, may enjoy (or only dream about taking) a standard national park tour vacation, a camping experience somewhere beautiful, a long hike, climbing…a mountain, or watching a simple sunrise. We love seeing God in nature. We love seeing what God has created. We might say “how can something this majestic not be created by a higher power?” or “how can something this beautiful be created by chance alone?” or “how could a tiny ant this small and complex not be made by some supernatural designer?” and “this has to have been created by God” and “I’m so thankful that I can be here to take all of this in, and really see what God has done.” I mean, that’s what goes through my head.
So my epiphany in that cold, decaying, dumpy park was…”holy crap, how can I not see God here??? or anywhere???…everything is freaking amazing…everything in this world is so so so huge, small, complex, interconnected, and different…with all of our asking to see him and wondering how we can see him, God has to be thinking that He might have somehow forgotten to give us eyes!! How can we not be floored by the magnificence of this world??”
If God were dead, I think He’d turn over in His grave every time one of us said “God, help us to see you.” He’d be like “what the crap else do you want me to do???” (although He’d say it a bit more patiently).
At the time I just jotted a few notes down: “Why do we think that we don’t see God here or have to look so so hard? What is wrong with our view of the world? Why are we not fascinated with how we see God here? Are we sedated with poor imaginations, pride, or just with rocks in our heads? Do we think we actually have this world figured out? Where do we get this audacity?”
I’m trying to figure out why it is so hard for us to see God. How can we not be overtaken by the wonders of a…brick, paper clip, acorn, or remote control?…of gravity, heat rising, or photons? Even man-made stuff - isn’t it utterly amazing that us robots with “minds of our own” can use what’s here and make stuff, even amazing things that most of us don’t even understand? If I can be in awe of a…paper clip…I think I can be one step closer to understanding the credit the God deserves.
maybe more to come…
