Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Here in New England we’re having a great blizzard. We have a couple feet of snow and it’s still coming down. And God is in the blizzard. Yesterday moving some heavy stuff around in the shed to get at the snow blower I strained my back, so shoveling won’t be fun. And the snow blower won’t start. God is in that, too.
As I often do I might think of some metaphors for God in all this, like “getting a sermon out of it”: God’s grace piles up around me… God’s presence is vast and my effort so small…I can only make my way with God’s grace… I should plan head or ask for help. And God might “come to me” in a particular way: I’ll shovel anyway and God will sustain me… or the machine will start.. or I’ll borrow the neighbor’s… or Beth and I will clear three feet of snow with soup spoons and good humor. But beyond all outcomes, beyond all my metaphors, no matter what happens or how I experience it, The Holy One is simply here. This, too, is holy. God’s presence is as pervasive as the storm, as deep as the snow, as intimate as the pain in my back. But God is beyond and beneath and before all those thoughts. This day is not an illustration of God; it is the presence of God.
God is in this blizzard with me: in the snow and wind and cold, in my back, in my wife, in our warm house, in my minutes and hours. God is with you, in the desert southwest where it’s a nice day, in northern Canada where it’s been a blizzard for months, in Australia or South Africa where it’s a midsummer evening, in England and Kazakhstan and your own little town. God is with you in your grief and your hope and your struggle and your relief. In your chronic pain, your deep questions, your wordless joy, your ordinary day, God is there. God is not in certain things but in everything. God is there, with you, in you, in this moment.
Everything you do you do holding hands with God. You don’t have to search for God. Let God be present.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
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Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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