Closeness to God

From 1992 to 2005, we lived along the Atlantic Coast in Indianlantic, Florida. Many a day, the kids and I packed our sand shovels and boogie boards and walked to the ocean. During our years in Florida, we experienced dozens of hurricanes, big and small.

Decades later, I live in Greenville SC, three hours from the ocean. 

None of my past experiences compared with what I encountered with Hurricane Helene. The force and energy of Helene were a window into his glory, majesty, and power as I simply lifted the curtain and looked out. My town was overpowered by the might of the wind and rain; ten days without power, thirteen days without internet, thousands of stately and decades-old trees toppled, and significant damage to many homes. I am humbled by the power of God’s creation and in awe of his magnificence on a deeper level. The force of nature in all its glory, even as it rocked the world around me, brought me closer to God and made me more aware of my need and longing for his closeness.

God plants the longing for a relationship with him in our hearts. St. Augustine pointedly reminds us, “Our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.” This also shows us something of God—God longs for us! We long for God, God longs for us. Trevor Hudson, a spiritual guide, mentor, and friend, says, “Your longings are your bus ticket home,” not thoughts or ideas. God plants the longing for him within you because God longs for you. 

Ecclesiastics reminds us that God has placed eternity in our hearts, not our minds. We live at a distance from our heart. And we easily find substitutes for our deep longings. 

Substitutes will satisfy, but only in a very temporary way. Nothing is lasting or deep. Substitutes become attachments and attachments become addictions and we become enslaved, growing further and eventually becoming separated from our hearts and from God, our deepest and truest longing.

But we have a God who is so kind and generous that everything around us, everything within our ordinary daily life, and even our physical bodies are like sidewalks and pathways and streets and sometimes superhighways to satisfy our longing and draw us closer to God.  

Communing with God through the things he created engages all our embodied senses. Our sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch enable us to ponder and reflect, drawing us inward into a closer, deeper, and wider relationship with God. All the senses in their varied forms are little windows through which God invites us to get closer as we explore the things he has created. When I pet my dog’s soft ears, I am drawn closer to the soft gentleness of God’s love for me. The quiet whispers of the trees have a language all their own and I am stilled within, hearing God’s whisper within me. The symphony of the birds welcoming the day fills me with the music of wonder and awe. Bearing witness to the Northern Lights as they dance in glorious beauty stops me in my tracks. Dallas Willard defines beauty as, goodness made present to the senses, and goodness as,all that nourishes and strengthens human life in a proper order. Beauty and goodness draw me closer to God and God draws closer to me through the things he created.

“We get closer to God as we get more intimately and
understandingly acquainted with the things he has created.”

George Washington Carver

I am reading Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I am discovering a beginning understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings, from salmon and hummingbirds to redwoods and rednecks. I am drawn nearer to God as I discover the small, unique intricacies of the moss world. The variety of the species, the myriad ways they protect themselves and flourish, how they have adapted to their environment—it all draws me closer to God as I become more acquainted with the things he has created. I am moved into wonder and beauty and awe as I explore the mostly hidden kingdom of moss.

More and more as I come closer and closer in touch with nature and its teachings, I can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch the Divine and am therefore fitted to interpret more correctly the various languages spoken by all forms of nature around us. There is an ever-diminishing barrier between earth and eternity.

I sometimes think of nature as unlimited broadcasting stations, in which God speaks every day, all day, and every moment if I only tune in and remain so. Each new truth brings me closer to God. I desire to make God a moment-by-moment presence through an increased sensitivity to nature and not only to notice God in my daily routine but to commune and converse with him there. 

How do you make God a moment-by-moment presence in your life? 

What have you become more intimately acquainted with of the things God has created? What have you noticed?

 How do your senses connect you with God?

Inspiration 

Blue Sky

There you are
holding the world
with hope
of a new day.
You’re there so often:
waiting for my breath,
waiting for my feet
to simply walk 
underneath you.
Waiting for me to
emerge into dailyness.
All my life I have trusted 
in your prevenient presence, 
cradled by your constancy.
You, blue sky,
have witnessed
my longevity.
You, blue sky,
have stood
with me during saging.
Under you I shelter,
holding my grandchildren’s 
sweet hands,
as we notice a bird sing.
And graced by you, blue sky,
we walk
to visit the pinecones.
There you are
Blue Sky,
holding the world
with hope
of a new day.

Delena Beth Knight
(Dedicated to my grandchildren)
From the soon-to-be-released book Fireweed Festival

Earthly Wonders

In fall I used to stand in
the early morning fog,
listening to the 
dripping clouds,
drinking my morning coffee,

to see once again
how overnight
the spiders had
stitched the edges of our
deck together
in an amazing feat 
of engineering prowess,

imagining their small bodies
launching into the wind,
eight legs outstretched,
octopus’ style,
parachuting across eternity.

We say magic as if
it is something
make-believe,
something only in
children’s books and 
our imaginations.

Maybe,
just for today,
remember the spider. 

Remember how your skin
was covered in a layer of
magic light when you
came into this world,

a time when
shimmers and wishes
seemed possible
and real.

If you have any doubts,
Take your morning coffee outside
And breathe in as the world
Wakens around you.

Noelle Rollins
From the book Ten Thousand Acorns 

On a personal note: both of the featured poems are from poets who I call my friends. It is a great delight to share them with you this month. 

I am here to serve your soul in whatever ways you might need or long for … spiritual direction, spiritual companionship, leadership coaching, enneagram coaching, Ignatian Spiritual Exercises guide, and guided retreats. What does your soul need? What does your soul want? 

Drawing close, Becky