I have not written in a long while. I have become caught up with school, work, sleep, and swiping on social media, forgetting to cultivate time to sit down and reflect. Lately, the question on my heart and mind has been: Where is The Divine acting in my life and in the world? Obviously, being in seminary, I engage in a lot of conversations about God, but, it is easy to focus too much on intellectualizing God and forget to look at everyday experiences of The Divine. Even for those individuals who do not believe in or profess a certain religion, we are all a part of some larger picture… even science cannot explain why we exist. There are forces at work that are larger than us, no matter what name we ascribe to these forces or what we believe about life after death. This is what I am interested in. How is this larger force at play in our lives and the world around us? How are our lives all interconnected? How do my actions influence the people around me?
Now, it would be easy to jump to negative conclusions at this point because of all that is going on in the media and around the world. It seems like everyone is out to get someone. Gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, nationality, and so many other divisions exist in our world and seem to be dominating the narrative. Yet, I challenge anyone reading this, to stop and think through your day, you week, and even your year and think about all the moments that these divisions did not exist; when you shared a smile or a conversation, when you noticed something beautiful, when you felt loved or recognized, when you felt like you were right where you needed to be. Maybe these moments are rare and far between but hold on to them. Remember that you are not alone; even amidst darkness, we are all wrapped up in this crazy existence together. Despite what the media wants us to believe about the world that we live in, and even with the call to fight for change, there is still hope.
In my own life I am reminded of this daily through the friendships I am building in school to the fact that I wake up every day and can decide what to have for breakfast. Look around you this week and notice where God, The Divine, The Ultimate Mystery, The Force that envelopes us all is acting in your life and in the lives of those around you. Let yourself relish in the goodness that is within and around you.
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