Musings: Notes From My Daybook

Where do we find God? In humanity's perennial search for the Creator, for the Mystery, for the Eternal its clear that the pursuit can often be a major expedition, like a friend who is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro this week. Major risks, big commitments, a lot to lose, and the gains are often imperceptible.

As we understand God as overtly Christian constructs, as Father, Redeemer, and Presence, some new possibilities emerge. As I continue reading in various books on prayer, I keep finding those who lived long ago addressing God's location.

"God is nearer to me than I am to myself; he is just as near to wood and stone, but they do not know it." --Meister Eckhart

"To mount to God is to enter into one's self. For he who inwardly entereth and intimately penetrateth into himself gets above and beyond himself and truly mounts up to God." Albert the Great.

Lest we begin to think that the key is to simply get in tune with one's self and develop some sort of selfism--which there is plenty of that around--Fosdick will remind us that the self is not answer, but the means.

Which is just another way of hinting at a dark reality. Sometimes, in all of our searching after God what we are really doing is running away from Him. If I'm busy learning yoga or teaching the children's Bible School class then I don't have to worry about what is going on in my heart. To be still and listen to God is more daunting than mounting an expedition!