We’ve been given this insane gift of life. We’re living in the midst of the Resurrection. And all day, all night, still our hearts ask, Where is God?Early in my sobriety I began to realize that God was the things, or in or behind the things, or had created the things, that I’d loved my whole life. Bach cantatas, all flowers, all birds. The man or woman who suffered and who didn’t complain and who tried to help the next person.
Oh—that’s God. The blue heron. The trees that changed color in fall. That swelling in my heart when the tattooed guy with three months of sobriety choked up as he said, “My wife cut me out of her life, but she’s gonna let me see my two-year-old daughter. I’m gonna see my little girl next week.”
I’ve also met people who were never going to cross the threshold of any church and who had a deep God-consciousness. “God is polite!” they’d say wonderingly. Or longingly, “I want a God with a face!” or “You know what I realized yesterday? God isn’t mad at me! I always thought God was mad at me.”
We’re all onto something. As Meister Eckhart observed, God is like a suitor. He never forces himself on us, but if we have eyes to see, he’s everywhere. “Hey, over here, check it out: a ruby-throated hummingbird!” “Hello there, you with the heavy heart, look, a sunrise!” “Yoo-hoo, I know you think no one loves you, but look, this beggar man is dying to touch your hand!”
Things changed for me when I began to see that I had always loved God and that what I did each morning—that sitting quietly watching the light, listening to the sparrows, feeling incoherently grateful, letting my mind wander to the mysteries of the universe—was prayer.
—Excerpted from Holy Desperation by Heather King
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Oh you found my words!!
After reading this summary I had to read it again to it part of me, can’t get over it. Its simple yet beautiful… It reminded me of the song by The Mighty Clouds of Joy “if you think God is dead then look around.” Sometimes I look at the stars, the clouds in their different shapes and they give so much beauty and sense, as if they were arranged by someone. God is awesome!!
These words touched my heart. It is sometimes difficult to fathom how God is in everything we will feel and experience today. I look forward to finding this book and exploring more.
Heather King is doing fine. Praise the Lord.
Excellent! Thank you for sharing this portion of the book.
Holy Desperation… That rings a BIG BELL to me. Thank you. I will see if I can buy your book HERE…Australia
So well put : short and to the point! God Bless. A.M.D.G.
Beautiful. I like the title of the book.
I’ve telling myself that I can see God in all things but at the same time I’m asking, OK God where are You? Heather King helps me see where…and so I have been missing out all this time. Get the book.
This article is exquisite. I’m a writer and an editor, and I tip my hat to Heather King.
Very real! Where we experience God in beauty, in the rough and in the raw–how we find God,indeed, is prayer in itself.
Thank you for the good article!
Love this! More please!!!
Angie, you can read more in the book this excerpt was taken from, Holy Desperation: Praying as If Your Life Depends on It by Heather King, available here: http://www.loyolapress.com/products/books/spirituality-inspiration/holy-desperation.
Just a really great article!!