Where Do You See God?

Where do you see God in that?

That’s the stock question of just about all Spiritual Directors. No matter how mundane or boring an experience may be.

Where do you see God in that?

Well, the poet may answer, “I see God in the fragile bloom of the flower; in the high cloud tracking across the vast ocean of the sky; in the smile and coo of a new born infant.”

That’s all nice and sentimental and all.

But, where does the person who struggles with a meaningless job every day of his or her life see God? The person who always seems to find more month at the end of the money? What about the person whose mind is wired in such a way that life is always a near impossible task? The person whose lithe and strong body has become a painful, hulking mass that can barely stand on its own because age has snatched the vitality from it? What about the billions of people who do not hunger and thirst for righteousness, but for actual food and water?

Where do you see God in that?

Perhaps, the only God that these people will actually see is you. Or, me.

We used to talk about the Church being God’s hands and feet in this world. It was always used in the context of evangelism. If we didn’t go as Christ’s ambassadors in order to bring Christ’s reign to all of those poor, lost souls, then how could they be saved? Of course, it they had real felt needs that required food or shelter, we could maybe help with that. But, our main purpose was to get those lost souls saved!

Where do you see God in that?

As I’ve gotten older I find that I can no longer support that idea. Mostly, because when people talk about getting ‘saved’ I really don’t know what they’re talking about. Saved from what? Eternity in someplace called ‘Hell’? No, I can’t go there. I simply don’t think such a place exists.

But, I digress. That’s a topic for another time.

Spiritual Directors want their directees’ eyes and hearts open to see God working in their own lives. A person is guided in the hope that they will be aware…mindful…of the slight changes in how they perceive God’s hands working in the quiet spaces of the heart. How have the skilled hands of the Potter been adding just a ‘wee bit o’ pressure’ in that spot? What has that slight change of touch changed the contours of the clay?

This is hard work. If it was easy, we wouldn’t need directors to help us see these things. As it is, the Director asks questions intended to drill down deeply within us so that we may see the runes and pictographs that God has drawn in our hearts.

For me, the journey has been long and fraught. Learning how to use the proper tools for spiritual spelunking is not easy. I’m still trying to recognize and read the signs of God’s passing and presence. Sometime the way is well-lit. Most of the time it is dark and obscure. I have to try and find some way to kindle a light. Perhaps, one day I’ll learn how to have a light available all of the time.

That day is not today.

Today, I grope around like a blind man. Arms outstretched, exploring the darkness trying to avoid running into a solid wall. I take each tentative step with a shuffle of my feet so that I don’t step into a chasm or trip over a rock…a corpse. I strain my mind to listen for any sound that might reveal my surrounding environment.

Is that the sound of water dripping? Perhaps, the low whisper of a breeze passing along the path I should take? The approach of some beast that has brooded silently within me for years? Growing and feasting on the rotting flesh that I have fed it? Maybe I have cut its supply of food and it’s prowling about hunting for its next meal.

Where do you see God in that?

Somewhere near…just behind the veil.

Seek. And, you will find.