Matt Lauer, on the Today Show, broadcasted from the Vatican this morning. It reminded me that just thinking about God in an organized religion way is a missed opportunity. Throughout civilization, people have looked for ways to experience the sacred and holy. Christians go to church, no matter how boring it is, Hindus plunge into the Ganges River, no matter how foul it is, Muslims make pilgrimages to Mecca no matter how far it is, monks kneel and chant, Jews eat a Passover meal, Polynesians dance and Quakers sit still. In themselves these are locations, activities and things. What I have learned is that you find God in the simplest of things, like a cup of coffee at Starbucks or on a private hike that turns into a cosmic experience. As we become aware of the additional dimension, simple moments take on the quality of the holy. There are thin spaces where the distance between this world and the bigger unseen world seems to briefly disappear. You don’t have to be a person of a particular faith to sense there is more going on in this world than just the activities we experience with our senses. Call it God. Call it spirituality. Call it whatever you like, but it’s unmistakable. Our conversations, jobs, transitions point us to something bigger than ourselves. Or at least they can. Whether we see the sacred and holy in everyday life is not a matter of whether it exists. Discovering a deeper part of ourselves can show us that the sacred has been there all along, hiding in plain sight.
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