Since the beginning of September, we’ve been looking for
God-for Holy Ground in our 5 senses. To really find the Holy Ground of God,
we’ve had to slow down and pause. We’ve tried to really look, smell, taste,
hear, and touch things that we often take for granted. As we pause to
experience the things around us, we can come closer to finding Holy Ground in
ourselves.
Br. Curtis Almquist of the Society of St. John Evangelist
notes, “For us to take in the promise of Jesus’ presence, we need to be really
present to life. Now. If you’ve been living your life at such a pace that
you’ve forgotten what now even looks like, try doing one thing at a time. Start
small; start now. Try just drinking a cup of coffee. Don’t be on the phone; no
newspaper; no conversation. Just drink coffee.”
We can be so busy that we lose sight of who we are and, more
importantly, Whose we are. We cannot be aware of the Holy Ground around and in
us when we are multi-tasking. There are lots of things that distract us from
taking time for ourselves. There’s the text to answer, the Facebook to update,
the phone call to make, the meeting to attend… Sometimes it seems like we are running
from ourselves-or from God.
Tim Yee writes meditations for the site Life for Leaders
. On October 1, he referred to God’s response to Samuel about the choice of David
as the next king for Israel. “People look at the outward appearance, but the
Lord looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7b). He goes on to say, “We can fall
into the trap of defining our value based on external criteria demanded by
others and even ourselves…we each must know that the Lord is looking at our
hearts—our inner-lives of being God’s children called to join God in his
kingdom expansion on this earth.”
God looks at the heart and God loves each of us. God wants
to work through and with us in all that we do. We are God’s Holy Ground. We are
co-workers in the vineyard. “I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus says. (John
15:5) We are to remain in relationship with God in order to bear fruit and be
fertile, as well as holy, ground. Jesus continues, “I have called you friends,
because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You
did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit,
fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in
my name.” (John 15:15-16)
Laurie Gudim in the Speaking to the Soul meditation at
Episcopal Café on October 12
says, “I had a dream once in which God leaned close, smelling my hair, much as
I used to bury my nose in the hair of my children when they sat on my lap, to
catch and treasure that unique scent that was such a part of them…” She says, “I
dare an open moment, an expectant silence. I
dare to believe that I matter, that God has many things that God would say to me. I dare to believe that God yearns to say
them.”
What might God desire to say to you? Can you imagine
yourself in God’s arms? Do you hear God say ‘you are beloved’, ‘you are my
child, my daughter, my son’, ‘you are mine, I chose you’?
Listen to God and make a list of the
affirmations God is trying to say to you. Set aside the busy-ness and just
listen. You may be surprised at the Holy Ground you will find!
