Sunday, September 18, 2011

Appreciating God

The winding trail to a hilltop with an expansive view of nature’s beauty remains a great metaphor for life. My thoughts sometimes soar above the treetops. Life contains people who need our concern, our prayers. Some are hyperemotional. Some are apathetic. Some are depressed. Some are just out looking for a good time.

The path presents leaves and rocks and sticks as beautiful, as majestic as created by God. The view inspires us to think of God, to seek solitude, to seek escape from the chaos and confusion of modern life, to seek solace and comfort with the Lord. Climbing up the hillside is not easy, wanting to see God is not cheesy. The desire to see God often accompanies a desire to serve God.

God doesn’t get recognized that much, reverence for God appears to be limited to churches. The secular world does not consider goodness, holiness, kindness interesting, educational, or entertaining. Presenting an invisible God to a world filled with doubt, conspiracy theories about their neighbors is not that appealing to the media, to the popular culture promoters. No one knows where God hangs out.

Christians are encouraged to seek the Lord. We can use prayer, reflection, silence. The search may or may not be successful. Calling God is important. Obedience, patience, humility, mercy are important and necessary ingredients to create a true relationship with God. We are asked to offer praise, thanks, loyalty, and loving service.

Appreciation is a great word. Appreciating is easier said than done. Appreciating God requires a sense of selflessness, a sense of unconditional love, a sense of mercy, and a sense of compassion. Appreciating God involves simultaneous observations of the world and our reactions to it; how our hearts, minds, and souls react during certain situations is important; who receives our spontaneous prayers provides insight.

Goodness, kindness, holiness often arrive with a surreal surreal disorientation. The world is filled with scoundrels sharing their wicked schemes and thoughts. This is the current reality glamorized, exaggerated, captured, preserved and beamed from communication satellites into living room televisions. Goodness, kindness, holiness do occur, but they are a rarity, not the normal encounter. Rudeness, selfishness are the norm, are accepted. Talking about God, talking about being good, talking about sin has a weird effect on some people. Saying that they believe in God is easier than actually believing.

Popular culture encourages us to live in a world of make believe where we are not doctors but we pretend to be when it is convenient, while the camera is pointed toward, while we have an audience.

The experience of recognizing God begins with recognizing the truth within each one of us, recognizing the hope within each one of us, recognizing the love within us. The experience of recognizing God in our lives is initially intensely introspective but grows and grows into a desire to share God’s love, mercy, and grace with everyone. There is an intimacy with God that can last a minute, a hour, a day. This intimacy is rare. With prayers, praise, reflection, good deeds many Christians seek that deep awareness, deep intimacy with God all of their lives.

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