“Union with God is not something we acquire by a technique. Because God is the ground of our being, separation is impossible. God does not know how to be absent.”—Martin Laird, Inward Outward daily quote, May 16, 2018.
Connecting and Praising God in Nature. Piper on the beach.
We may feel that God is not beside us or has abandoned us, but Martin Laird reminds us that God is never absent. Never absent. Never absent. We need to remind ourselves about this every day, every moment. We are never alone. The vastness of God’s presence and love is more incredible than we can know, feel, or imagine.
My experience is that when I ask for more love from friends and family than they can give, this is a stop sign that I have become disconnected from God’s presence.
I am asking others to give more love than they can give because I do not feel God’s love. When I talk to people in spiritual direction who feel estranged from God, I remind them of my experience.
So, how do we change? How do we feel God’s presence and God’s love, rather than God’s absence? My experience is that we have become disconnected, especially from the Christ within us. A multitude of ways can put us in position to know and feel the love of God always present. That is the purpose of all spiritual exercises. Some make gratitude lists. Others try to be more intentional about their prayer time, spending more time with God and listening instead of talking. Some spend more time in Nature, where God’s presence and beauty are overwhelming.
We are also told God is always present among the sick, the poor, the needy, and the lonely. My experience is that visiting those in need is one of the surest ways to connect with the Christ in another, who then reflects to us the Christ in ourselves that has been there all along. Working at a food pantry, visiting the sick, and sitting with someone lonely is where we find God.
The paradox is that getting out of ourselves leads us back to the God within.
Joanna joannaseibert.com https://www.joannaseibert.com/